Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon: Gravity of Perspective
by TheG0AT
Summary: [PMD—PSMD] An ancient evil is rising once again, drawing the planet towards the sun and threatening all life. Pokemon are being corrupted from the inside-out and all established order is cast to the void, slowly decaying to ash. Waking up in this unstable world, a paranoid amnesiac Snivy must discover his identity again—all while battling the darkness within himself.
1. Prologue

A/N: ( _just some background information_ ) I originally started uploading this on Archive of Our Own, a similar fanfiction website to this one, but I expanded it here after a couple months of writing to increase the range of people that would come across it. It is essentially a retelling of Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, but some of the plotlines are altered drastically to maintain suspense and appeal to groups of all ages. Expect death, hatred, and love that you wouldn't normally find in a canon MD storyline. Nothing is too graphic though, so no M rating is necessary.

The chapters are short at first (around 3,000 words), but get significantly longer around chapter 12. This is my first crack at fanfiction of any kind, so when I started in April 2017 I thought 3k words was a lot. Turns out I was very wrong.

It is not a lemon and never will be, although romance is certainly present and the topic of reproduction is not embargoed, per se. Even though romance is a tag, the story is not _constructed_ around the romance, rather the romance is simply _applied_ to the more dominant adventure aspect of the story. If you're into it then you'll get to have your ships. But if you're not, then you probably won't be too distracted by how I try and mesh it with the plot as a necessary aspect of the story.

Just a heads up: the hero is a guy. The reason I say this now is because the story is told in first person and a friend of mine accidentally thought the hero was a female for like five chapters... yeah. It was hilariously awkward.

There is already a post-game sequel planned for this. And it will be way different than the usual post game, in large part due to some massive plot twists coming in this story. If you're reading this on Archive of Our Own, then the series name will make a lot more sense once that rolls around. Naturally, I'll have to finish this first.

One more thing: **I absolutely treasure reviews** , especially ones that point out ways I can improve on even the littlest things. Whether it's just a short note patting me on the back, or a long drawn out explanation talking about how I've either done a really good job or a really bad one, I will love you forever for your feedback. I also respond to most reviews, although I won't respond to all of them. Usually if it's long and detailed you can probably bet I'll send a nice response thanking you.

Enjoy the story, and expect frequent updates.

* * *

Chapter 1 - Prologue

Two figures overlooked a broad landscape that stretched itself out before them. Grass that had once turned brown and lifeless in the once blazing heat waved in the gentle northern breeze, full of life. The sun sat in its rightful place governing over the Earth, showering down beams of light peeking through the clouds racing across the sapphire sky. The breeze carrying the clouds brought a chill to the air circulating around the pair of friends.

What would have been a coveted sight cherished by many following recent events was spoiled by the presence of uncertainty that loomed over them. Their exhaustion could not mask the underlying dread that nipped at the back of their minds as the world before them functioned unaware of the true reality. A world flowing heartily that was fully withheld from the knowledge that their troubles weren't over. Only the two figures on the hill knew any better.

After an extended awkward silence, one of them spoke up to try to dissolve the negativity.

"Perhaps now we can rest easy," he commented to his friend.

"Mmm," was the only response he got.

He raised an eyebrow at this and sighed. "Look," he started. "I get it. We didn't accomplish what we ultimately needed to accomplish. But we still halted the destruction of the entire planet. Temporarily, maybe, but still, buying the world a few hundred more generations isn't too shabby. That definitely has to count for something, right?"

His partner instantly shook her head at this question, still not removing her gaze from the tranquil scene below.

"What have we done but taken this problem and burdened those who come after us with it?" she whispered. "A cruel procrastination of ours that spans eons? In the remote future, who can be blamed for the inevitable return of the void but us?"

He was silent at this. Their actions were undoubtedly clutch regarding the very survival of the world, but what his partner said he couldn't quite justify. How right she was stabbed him painfully, and he feared this would be a burden that would loom over them forever. He did not want it to come to that, and he certainly didn't want the world to end either, even if it was set back ten thousand years.

"We've danced with fate more than enough for both of our lifetimes," he reassured her. "We can't worry about that. There's nothing we can do but enjoy the world while it lasts. We can never rid the world of crisis it will inevitably face."

She could detect the doubt in his voice as he said this, nullifying any feeling of reassurance he hoped they might gain from his empty words. She glanced up at the sun hoping for answers, watching it cast its light down on the world. Its position currently posed no threat to the planet.

 _But for how long?_

She pondered her partner's words, searching for answers.

 _Right. We have indeed tested the strings of fate extensively in this lifetime. All of our effort, through all of these years, has led to this point of temporary victory. But what can our lives accomplish now that time separates us from our burdens? Our responsibilities? There must be something we can do to right our failure. Something to prevent future generations from bearing our burden. Something to make it ours again._

The gears in her head began turning, and an outlandish idea was sparked. She scratched her chin thoughtfully, and considered their next move. Despite her partner's attempts at reassurance, she didn't need her psychic abilities to know that they were both on the same page. They were nowhere near finished with their task. After another moment of consideration, she decided to voice her thought process.

"Perhaps there is a way..."


	2. Slate of Mind

Chapter 2 - Slate of Mind

A dull ache resounded in my head as consciousness beckoned me. My senses were too foggy to remember whatever I had been doing before now, so I contented myself with lying in place for a few minutes before finally attempting to gather my bearings. I supposed I'd fallen asleep, although the context provided was nonexistent. I couldn't remember a single detail about the last time I was awake.

I flexed my stiff muscles and rolled over onto my stomach before pushing myself off the ground. A very strange sensation overcame me at that moment that I couldn't quite shake off. My entire body felt numb and unfamiliar, and it left me with an uneasy feeling in my gut. It made my limbs feel tingly and out of place. They almost seemed not human.

 _Water... Thirsty._

The sound of running water to my right caught my attention, and I rejoiced at the convenience. Not really bothering to check my surroundings just yet, I stumbled over to it. The weird feeling in my legs refused to subside as I fell onto my knees at the edge of the pond.

The delicious liquid satisfied my thirst immediately, and helped clear the mist out of my soggy brain that was still trying to remember whatever it was I had done to end up wherever I am.

 _Where even am I?_

My head on a swivel, I evaluated my surroundings. The pond sat under a cliff I judged to be roughly twenty feet tall, next to a forest trail that I had woken up laying on. Trees surrounded me from every angle besides that of the little pond, and did not seem to end. Had it not been for the forest trail, I would have been thoroughly lost in these woods with no sense of direction besides the sun. But the place didn't particularly look familiar, so how could I have gotten here?

I stared back down at the water, planning to get a few more gulps, when my heart skipped a beat. A reflection in the pond returned my stunned gaze as a face that was not mine mimicked my every emotion. Foreign eyes burrowed into my pupils as I carefully attempted to understand what I was staring at, and what was staring back at me.

"What the hell is this?" I said my first words out loud. My voice sounded odd, as if it wasn't mine. I surely commanded it, but it felt like thievery with each syllable.

I tried to bring my arm down to touch the water, but my arm—my _new_ arm—was barely too short to reach without having to dip my new long nose into the water as well. I realized I had access to some sort of muscle connection near my rear end, and promptly discovered I was bestowed with a tail that stuck into the air as high as my head. It thinned out near the top before ending into a large three-winged leaf that was as wide as my 'new' head was long. The anatomy of my new form rushed to the front of my mind immediately: that of a Snivy.

The thought made everything else freeze.

 _I've turned into a Snivy._

It looped in my head over and over.

 _I've turned into a Snivy._

 _I am now, in this moment, a Snivy. Not a human, but a Snivy._

 _Is this real?_

Again I spoke to no one.

"Why am I a—wait, what? This isn't right...!"

I tried to recall what could've caused such a thing to happen, but I could recover nothing. My panicked state began to reveal itself visually as I paced around the small clearing unable to recall _anything_ from the days before.

I couldn't remember anything at all. Anything about... anything.

I knew what family was but I could think of no faces. I knew what food was and what tastes were but I couldn't call upon the events that lead to this knowledge. The sunset, the ocean, grass, trees, the world itself. I knew what they _were_ , but I had never _seen_ them before. Events that should have shaped me into who I was now were lost in a place I couldn't hope to reach. All I could recall was my previous status as a human (which is what lead to my initial panic over becoming a Pokemon) and another word that would not leave my head that I assumed had to be my name.

Sage.

Is that my name? Is that a name at all, or a title of some sort? Who even—

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by an beeping sound at my back, the first sign of life I had heard. I stopped my nervous pacing, wobbling a bit on my unnaturally short legs, and turned around to find three levitating Pokemon in a triangular formation staring me down. Their heads were shaped like an upside-down bell, and their brown bodies resembled a thinner shape of their head that resembled wearing a cloak. Their arms extended to stubs, where three bulbs flashed colors of lights at me. It seemed like some form of communication that I couldn't hope to translate. Regardless, I decided I'd give talking to them a shot anyway.

"Hey, uh..." I began. "Do you know wh-"

I hardly had the mind to dodge the blow that the strange Pokemon in front attempted to deal me. Stumbling on my excuses for legs, I tripped and fell flat on my snout without the support of long arms to catch myself, sending a jolt through my head that warranted a surprised grunt. Out of the corner of my eye I caught another of the strange Pokemon striking down on me, barely giving me enough room to roll backwards and narrowly out of range.

I managed to take advantage of my momentum and spring to my feet before my aggressors could attempt another swing. I didn't bother turning around to question their actions; they had made their motives crystal clear by this point.

Instead, I elected to run down the trail as fast as I could away from the clearing. I instantly realized that the body I was in was not in ideal shape fitness-wise, and I felt fatigue nip at my muscles - muscles I still wasn't sure how to efficiently use - after only a few seconds of running. My tiny thought legs presented themselves as an obstacle at first, but after a couple of minutes I became accustomed to moving with them to my relief.

This relief doubled when I caught sight of another Pokemon in my path—evidently a fellow grass type. It regarded me with wide eyes as I scrambled around a curve in the trail and entered its line of sight. It showed no intention of attacking me, so I jogged up to it, panting hard.

"Woah there young fella!" his gruffy voice mirrored the surprise in his eyes from my sudden appearance. "Now, what're you all wound up about?"

"I'm being... chased," I panted, returning the gaze.

The three strange Pokemon revealed themselves before I could elaborate any further. All that running and I hadn't gained any ground at all! The passive Pokemon in front of me took a moment to comprehend the scene before him, but was able to put the pieces together and pull me backwards the moment before my pursuers were able to land a strike.

"Yikes!" the leaf-headed Pokemon exclaimed. "I'm scared! Let's get outta here!"

I nodded my head and hastily followed him down the path, the three strange Pokemon right on our tail. An invisible beam of energy sliced through the air to the left, narrowly skimming my head and leaving my ear ringing. Somehow, I maintained my balance and continued on right behind the leaf-headed Pokemon.

For many minutes—at least fifteen or twenty—we ran straight down the path without pause. Even when the sight of the rouge attackers had disappeared into the short horizon of the bending woods, we did not stop. My strange new ally seemed to garner the stamina to run the whole time, whereas I almost immediately began to feel nauseated.

Adrenaline had worn off a few minutes into the dash, and my legs began disagreeing with my brain about how much longer I could run. Not that my brain was given any breaks either; the thoughts from before still looped in my head, over and over. Was this real? Was any of the past few minutes actually real? A lot of things certainly felt real, like the grass under my feet and the wind at my neck and that psychic attack that was an inch from putting me back to sleep.

I kept running.

The pain, I thought. The pain from all this running certainly felt real.

More minutes of this mental spiral would commence before I finally got a chance to rest. The leaf-headed Pokemon abruptly stopped at another clearing even tinier than the last but still sufficient for a quick moment of rest.

"We'll stop right here," he called back to me as I lagged behind. "Take a quick break and all that, and then we'll be up and outta here."

"Thank you," I tried to reply as I caught up to him. My speech was, for the most part, little more than an incoherent cough.

I wasn't in the mood to question how a Pokemon could talk with language. I assumed my understanding of his language was connected to myself being turned into one. This conjecture might have been satisfying if I actually knew why I had become a Pokemon in the first place.

That though gave me pause. Not because I hadn't realized it already, no; simply, rather, because it was so outlandish in nature. _I am a Pokemon_... every syllable still didn't make sense. I couldn't register as a fact about myself.

I brought my arm up to where that ranged attack had skimmed the side of my head. It didn't hurt very much now in light of the fatigue making my muscles almost feel like liquid, but it still hurt enough for me to know it was real! I felt my hand—my foreign hand—around the area, and then felt the other side of my head for good measure. Were... were there _scales_ covering my body?

Before I could ponder the dreamlike cluster of events further, the leaf-headed Pokemon snapped me back to reality by developing a condescending look on his face.

"Alrighty now! What did you do to get them Beeheyem so riled up at you, huh?" he fiercely chided. "You some kinda delinquent child pullin' pranks?"

I shook my head at him, and took a moment to clear my throat. "No sir," I replied calmly. "I—I don't know why they did that, I swear! I don't even know who I am... t-to be honest with you."

The Pokemon raised his eyebrows at this, and frowned. "You don't know who you are? What in tarnation?"

"I can't remember anything. I—" I scanned the treeline. Nothing but trees and underbrush as far as the eye could see. "—Where even are we?"

"We're in Lush Forest, I reckon. Just a few kilometers south of where I live." The Pokemon tilted his head. "You uh... said you can't remember a thing?"

I stared at him. It must've sounded about as ridiculous as I could've imagined, but the strange Pokemon was actually quite immersed with what I was telling him.

"All I remember is what I'm pretty sure is my name, Sage, and that I used to be a human," I said with a nod. "Believe me, I'm more confused right now than you are."

The Pokemon's expression suddenly shifted into one of utter disbelief. "Hold it kiddo!" he exclaimed. "A human? Like, one of them..." He paused and placed his hand on his chin as though searching for the right words. "One of them mythological creatures?"

 _Mythological?_

"That's... a hard pill to swallow, I reckon. Ain't nobody alive seen a human before."

I wasn't sure how to respond. I hadn't really considered how a fellow Pokemon might react to such a revelation. Quite a bit to my displeasure, it was clear that a humans becoming a Pokemon was not an everyday occurrence.

"Well, I reckon I can't really say whether you're telling the truth or not, but it would be mighty unfair to claim you're lyin' right away." He extended his hand to me. "It's awfully nice to meet you Sage. I'm Nuzleaf."

I tried to extend my little arm to reach his hand, and fortunately, it barely made the cut from where I was standing. He noticed my struggle and raised an eyebrow.

"You uh... oughta try usin' those vines of yours instead of your hand," he informed me. "Grass Pokemon who have 'em typically prefer using their vines rather than their paws."

 _My vines? That's true, I guess a Snivy would naturally have vines. But how do I—_

As if triggered by my thoughts, two green tendrils extended themselves from their hiding places beneath each of my shoulder blades. I spent a few seconds admiring them as I tried to get the hang of their controls, mostly just extending and retracting them. Actually maneuvering them through the air was a much more taxing skill that I was clearly no expert at. By the looks of it, this body did not come with muscle memory either.

In the process of learning how to use them, I accidentally lifted my right vine up and then brought it down a little too quickly, sending a wave of energy through the flexible appendage and whipping the air with a loud _crack_ a half-inch from Nuzleaf's leaf-hair.

"Dagnabbit, be careful with that!" Nuzleaf exclaimed in surprise. He glared at me, but could not hide what genuinely looked like concern. "...You really aren't very familiar with your body, huh? Guess that strongly supports what you been trying to say to me, so I do suppose I'll go out on a limb and believe your story."

 _Wow. That could've gone a whole lot worse._

I sighed inwardly with relief. The prospect of being stuck in this world with nobody else to even acknowledge my situation was utterly terrifying. The reason, of course, being that I had no idea how to fix it, and I could only hope that someone else did.

"It's nice to meet you too, Nuzleaf," I said. "Thank you for believing me."

Nuzleaf shrugged and rubbed the back of his head. "Think nothing of it kiddo. With that in mind, I don't suppose you've got anywhere to eat or sleep tonight?"

The stress of my situation revealed itself again as I seriously pondered his question. I had absolutely nowhere to go, and nothing to eat. I didn't even know what kind of food I could and couldn't eat. I didn't know anything at this point.

 _Can this day get any worse?_

Right then I felt the urge to slap myself with one of my vines; not that I could've since I was pretty sure I didn't even know how. As soon as this thought popped into my head, I heard the beeping sounds of the Beeheyem a fair way down the trail. They didn't sound right on top of us, but the fact that we could hear it at all entailed our immediate departure.

Nuzleaf heard it too. "Crapfire!" he hissed. "I reckon we gotta get to runnin' again! Can't let 'em see us!"

He whirled around and took off running down the trail, and I followed suit as best I could.

* * *

By the time we reached a shift in the scenery, the sun had crawled behind the mountains on the horizon, and the sky was showing signs of early dusk.

"Finally," Nuzleaf said, breaking the silence. "Just up here is my village. I suppose that, since you ain't got nowhere to go, you can stay here with me for a little while. Ah, look, there it is right there."

I barely even heard him. I was absolutely spent. The rest of my trip through the forest had been a tumble; I'd even wretched a few times to the point where if I had any food in my stomach I undoubtedly would've left it behind in the forest. Still, I followed Nuzleaf with heavy feet up to the edge of a tiny little hill, all while fighting the desire to collapse on the spot.

He was looking down at something, and I stood beside him and gazed out at the scenery myself. We were standing at the top of a slight downward slope leading all the way to tiny little wooden houses constructed in the distance. A massive lake stood out next to the village, that realistically I assumed was the primary resource that lead to the village's chosen location. Before the lake was another hill jutting out from the ground with a single tree extending further into the sky than the generic trees they had passed by for hours traveling the forest trail. The landscape was nothing short of incredible.

"Like it, don't ya?" Nuzleaf chuckled. "That there's Serene Village. Place is great for retirin' folk, but plenty fun for kiddos like yourself as well."

Fun? I wasn't concerned with fun, but that hardly mattered if I was getting a place to stay. I was vulnerable and lost in more ways than one; this was really about survival more than anything. I would have to roll with the punches for the time being.

He beckoned for me to follow him down the path on the gradual slope. With nowhere else to go, I obeyed without a word.


	3. Serene Village

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful in comparison to the hectic rush of earlier.

Nuzleaf led me to his humble abode, a two-room wooden thatch house located at the back of the village. I knew no specific details on housekeeping or what was considered fancy and whatnot, so I was in no position to make a judgement on the place. It didn't strike me as particularly luxurious, as there was little to no decor or breaks in its simplicity. But it had a roof and basic things one would need to survive and get around, so I deduced that it was more than enough to satisfy a lost enigma such as myself. The kind grass-type set up a bed for me in the second room after moving some storage crates out of it. It had gotten too late to do anything else, so we both just went to bed once it got completely dark.

I didn't get much sleep, unable to neutralize the thoughts that raced through my head. That day had been several things: exhausting, confusing, too fast-paced for me to keep up. And my first day alive, as far as memory was concerned.

The next morning, Nuzleaf woke me out of nowhere—at an hour too early for my liking, no less—by telling me that he'd get me signed up to go to the village school.

"Wh—hm?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes. I was still groggy, and hadn't quite heard him.

"I reckon that's quite right," Nuzleaf continued. "If you're gonna be stayin' with me from here on out until you find out what happened to your memories, you're gonna need to live as a member of Serene Village, kiddo. And that includes goin' to school when you're of age, just as I did."

I wasn't totally sure I was comfortable barging into a school for Pokemon as though I were just another normal student. Despite this, I was in no position to decline, and thus I made no objections. All I could really do was make the best of it. On the bright side, maybe I'd learn something I could actually use in the off chance that I was truly stuck like this?

"Alright, youngin'," he told me as he prepared to walk out the door. "I'm goin' to the school to sign you up real quick, and I reckon you'll be certified to join the classroom by tomorrow."

I nodded my head as I swallowed the last oran berry that Nuzleaf had produced for our breakfast.

"Now listen here kiddo," he said in a stern tone and with slightly-narrowed eyes. "Try not to get into some kinda trouble while I'm gone. For yer own safety, I reckon you'd best stay here."

"Y-yes sir," I replied. "I can do that."

Nuzleaf nodded at this and walked out the door without another word.

And just like that, I was all alone for the very first time I could remember.

With nothing else to do, I decided I'd make use of my time to analyze my own body. I was, undoubtedly, a Snivy; no trace of my past human self was left behind barring the very knowledge that I was once a human. Of all things, what an odd thing to remember!

Regardless, I believed it. I knew it was true. It wasn't even a debate my mind would allow me to have. How I wished anything, any memory at all of who I was, could have been retained with the same potency as this one.

It was starting to become clear that my amnesia would not be overcome with patience alone.

 _This sucks._

Looking around the room, I sighed.

 _I suppose I'd better get used to this body then..._

I felt an itching sensation at my collar and obliged a muscle that yearned to be flexed.

 _Now let's see about these vines..._

I unsheathed them slowly at first so I could properly attempt to study them. It was an unruly task trying to balance their movements, but after a few minutes of experimentation, I managed to recreate the whipping motion that had nearly whacked Nuzleaf's "leaf" off the day before, this time on command. A crack could be heard throughout the room as I performed a vine whip, and a surge of pride swelled up in my chest.

"Maybe I can make this work..." I whispered to myself.

I got a few more practice attempts in, whipping towards the middle of the room in hopes that nothing will get accidentally broken, before I was interrupted by a rustling sound outside the house.

I could distinctly detect movement near the wall of my new room. It didn't sound loud enough to alarm me to some sort of assault, but it was definitely not the wind. Those- what were they called... Beeheyem? They were still on the loose, and I wasn't about to boast that my haphazard vine whip would be enough to subdue them. What if they had followed me here?

I poked my head outside cautiously, looking left first toward the noise, and then right to cover both sides. After glacing around for a few seconds, I determined that nobody was sneaking up on me, and I lazily turned to head back into the house.

I was greeted with a flash of orange and yellow flying out of a bush bordering the outside wall, the ambush more than enough to finally convince me I had been found. It surprised me enough to make me fall back with an embarrassing yelp, landing me on my tail, where I scrambled to get to my feet before a decisive blow could be dealt. I wasn't about to-

"Yes! I knew it!" I heard a voice excitedly declare, one distinctly different from what I'd imagine some hovering mercenary would sound like.

I looked up to determine the source of the voice: there stood a Fennekin, with the most gleeful look on her face and seemingly erupting with energy. She bounced up and down as though a fire was lit under her feet, not that she would've minded much with her fire typing. My blood was still rushing from the surprise, but she made no move to attack leading me to relax a little.

"I knew I saw a new kid come to town!" she continued without stopping to catch a breath. "What's your name?"

I picked myself up, and dusted myself off, trying not to let my thumping heart affect my voice.

"U-uh, yeah. Hi, I'm—"

"I'm Leah!" she piped before I could finish. She then pointed to the house located about thirty meters fruom Nuzleaf's. "That's my house! I live there with my old pops."

Then she turned to me, balanced on her hind legs, and grabbed me by both shoulders. "What about you? I saw you come home with Nuzleaf yesterday. There's no way you're his, like, child-child right? Or do you not want to tell me?"

All I really wanted was to ask her if she ever stopped talking. It took quite a bit of my decency and a bit of circumstance to keep me from making a snide comment. I found it surprisingly difficult to do so. Perhaps being a Snivy was having some sort of influence on my personality? I knew for a fact that the species wasn't really known for holding in arrogance, but... I wasn't actually a Snivy. At least, not in spirit. Whether such a thing was determined to the soul or the brain was a mystery to me.

Instead of reacting to the output of lingering adrenaline, I gathered my wits and decided I'd make a good first impression.

"N-no," I answered calmly. "Nuzleaf has sort of, uh, adopted me, and I'm staying with him for the time being."

I held out one of my vines, being extremely careful not to poke her in the eye with it or accidentally eject a tuft of her fur off of her head with an unprecedented whipping motion. The thought of that scene playing out kind of made me want to giggle, but I held the rudeness down. I might have had a sense of humor and possess a bit of natural pride, but I wasn't a jerk, and certainly didn't want to start my time off in the Pokemon world being known as one.

"I'm Sage. Nice to meet you Leah," I said, flashing her a smile. She returned it and shook the vine in an awkward motion.

"Come on!" she yipped with excitement, snatching my arm in her paw and pulling me back towards the village. "This is your first time here, so I'm gonna show you around!"

 _Oh... whatever. I was planning on looking around at some point anyway, albeit I had planned to wait until Nuzleaf got back. But—hey! Does she really have to pull so hard?_

We reached the plaza, and I got a good close up view of what I had only seen from a distance the day before. The village center was really nothing impressive, just an open circular area for conversation with a few small businesses established on its edges. I got a better look at the lake, which up close looked like a great swimming spot. I briefly wondered if being a Snivy would influence whether I enjoyed swimming or not, but there was little time to chase the thought at the moment.

"That's Kecleon's shop there!" Leah hollered. "And that's Hawlucha's link shop! That's the gate leading to the wild! And that's the Cafe! And..."

She stopped, and looked at me.

"You think I'm annoying don't you?" she said with a straight face.

The question was so sudden that it sounded interconnected with the rest of her rambling, and I didn't quite register it until a few awkward seconds of silence had passed. Unfortunately, I should've known better than to show this girl any hesitation to respond to her, as she again spoke up before I could utter a word.

"You're totally thinking about how annoying I am right now, aren't you?" she continued. Then she brushed it off with a laugh. "Well sheesh! Give me a break you big Miltank!"

She smiled a big smile at me, expecting some sort of reaction. I stared awkwardly back at her, self-aware and uncertain what to say.

"You see what I did there?" she nagged with a wide grin. "With the miltank?"

She burst out laughing right in the middle of the plaza, turning a few heads and making me duck my own.

Didn't this girl have friends she'd rather be doing this kind of thing with? I appreciated the gesture of showing me around and all, but I didn't even know her and I was already being thrusted something along the lines of an inside joke, if that could even be considered a joke at all.

The Fennekin's laughing was abruptly cut short when an angry voice was directed in our direction.

"There you are you little punk!"

"Eep! Is that- ah, it's Lombre!" Leah squealed and tried to hide behind me. It obviously didn't work very well due to a thin frame that would reveal the ends of her yellow fur and orange ears (what massive things!) no matter the angle.

The Jolly Pokemon didn't appear very jolly as he stormed up to us.

"I finally found you, you little troublemaker!" he bellowed. "About my lotuses! You were playing in my lotus pond, weren't you?"

"...Oh. My fault," Leah replied. "I was just trying to see how many I could light on fire without getting w-"

"Leah! Stop! Right! Zere! You pest!" another voice called with a tone similar to Lombre's. The voice quickly revealed itself from a different angle as a Hippopotas. "Did you steal ze treasures I stored in ze back of my cave? Ah, what kind of question is that? Of course it had to have been you! I told you child, zere is a reason you cannot give o in zere!"

The poor Fennekin, now unable to continue to poorly hide herself behind me, walked out to explain herself.

"Well... You gotta have a reward for clearing a dungeon, right?" she squeaked, putting up a halfhearted grin hoping to get on the raging hippo's good side.

The Hippopotas scowled at her excuse, but before he could go any further, yet another voice that was louder than the rest roared Leah's name. How many Pokemon had she come to piss off? Was all of this normal?

A large turtle Pokemon with blue armor coating his body stomped over to where we were standing.

"P-Pops... heh," Leah stuttered. "I was just showing my new friend around the village."

The large Carracosta didn't buy it. Or he just didn't care.

"Loitering around the village instead of doing your chores, it seems! Child, you're in big trouble if those don't get done by this evening!" the massive Pokemon threatened. He wasn't finished however.

"As for the meantime, I suggest you explain why you were eating the Oran berries out of my field again!"

Leah shot back at him: "I was not!"

"You were!"

"Was not!"

"Do I look like a fool to you, child?"

"…You look like a Miltank."

"Watch that tongue of yours, or you'll be using it to clean the dishes," her pops boomed. "Now I want the truth from you!"

The rebellious Fennekin sighed. "Fiiiine, I ate a few of them," she said, looking a bit guilty. "They were delicious though!" she added with a playful smile.

Hippopotas, Lombre, and her pops were all burning holes through her skull with their triggered gaze, while I stood next to her with a dumbstruck expression painted on my face.

All I could think was: what the hell was this girl smoking?

She seemed to realize we were all expectantly staring at her, and she gradually seemed to piece together that she wasn't getting off the hook like she'd hoped. She honestly hadn't thought it would be that easy, right? The Carracosta didn't even get a chance to take a step forward before Leah had twirled around and fled back away from the plaza.

"You can't hide forever troublemaker!" Lombre called after her as the three of them gave chase. I stood for a moment, considering whatever it was that just played out in front of me.

 _Wow. I'm glad that's over. I'm... just gonna pretend the last five minutes never happened._

I was planning on exploring the rest of the village some more. I was out here already, and there was no danger afoot, so what else to do but look around?

Within seconds of glancing around, my eyes found something worthy of attention. I spotted two kids around my age arguing about something next to the large gate that that crazy Fennekin had mentioned. I recognized a Shelmet getting chewed out by a rather angry Deerling. They did not seem to even notice the commotion in the plaza at all.

I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but it sounded like the Shelmet had screwed up and gotten Deerling's friend stuck in some kind of sticky situation. After another moment of Deerling belittling the Shelmet's "bullying" as she phrased it, they left to seemingly go find their friend. I considered following them, but decided it would be best not to leave the village on my own. There was no need to create danger for myself if it wasn't-

"I wonder what that was about," a feminine voice softly spoke behind me.

I jolted in surprise, but quickly regained my composure and turned around to discover who had acknowledged me.

Before me stood a grey feline Pokemon standing on two legs, with deep purple eyes and naturally-white "socks" on her feet. She wasn't very tall - the first bipedal I had seen that was just a bit shorter than me - but her unyielding composure made up for it in terms of assertion. She seemed like a totally normal Pokemon besides the gaze she wielded that seemed like could see right through your soul. If not for her nicely-kept fur and warm smile, those eyes were a little offsetting.

"Pardon me," she giggled. "My name is Espurr. I overheard that Nuzleaf brought in someone new to the village. I'm assuming that would be you?"

I nodded my head, pleased to finally meet somebody who seemed to be normal in personality.

"H-hi. My name is Sage. It's nice to meet you Espurr," I responded, tentatively shaking her hand with my vine.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," she replied with a little curtsy, then gesturing toward the gate. "Shall we see what has those two so preoccupied?"

"Why not. I have nothing better to do."

* * *

"You're such an asshole Pancham!" Deerling cried. "How could you trick Goomy into entering the Foreboding Forest like that?"

The panda Pokemon tsked at her, waving his finger. Shelmet, now beside Pancham, laughed in the face of the same force of rage that had just been chewing him out when he was without his big-talk partner.

"Your pal Goomy went in there by his own free will," Pancham coolly objected with a big smirk. "He tried to tell us about how big and tough he was, and now look what happened."

"I doubt that!" Deerling yelled at them. "You two are always bullying him because he's the only other guy in our class! He's not even as old as us, and you still put him through this all the time!"

"Relax," Pancham sneered, trying to play the situation off as smoothly as possible without breaking his superiority act. "If he's as big and strong as he says, he'll be fine, right? You wouldn't want to be hanging out with a liar, would you Deerling?" He winked at her.

Deerling was about ready to burst with rage. Shelmet was genuinely worried that she would curbstomp Pancham right there without another word; it wouldn't have been the first time their shenanigans had tipped off the deer. Instead, she barely managed to compose herself and spit a cold response at him.

"Go in there and get him," she slowly hissed. "Or I will do it myself." Upon seeing them make no move to enter the forest, she stepped forward intending follow through with her declaration.

"No!" Pancham and Shelmet both exclaimed at the same time. They blocked her path into the forest and forced her back.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" she raged.

"We can't let anything happen to you Deerling! What kind of future boyfriend would I be then, huh?" Pancham pleaded in desperation.

"You mean what kind of future boyfriend would I be," Shelmet interrupted with a low tone.

"Ugh!" Deerling muttered in frustration. "You two are nothing short of disgusting! If none of us are going, then who do you imagine is?"

This was the scene Espurr and I strolled upon. Thankfully, Espurr spoke up to clarify a few things instead of putting me in an awkward situation with people I didn't know who were in the middle of a near brawl.

"Let me guess," the feline said with a tone of indifference. "Goomy's lost in the forest and you need someone to get him back."

Deerling sadly nodded, while Pancham and Shelmet snickered at their handiwork.

"We'll get him," I suddenly spoke up right before Espurr was about to say something. "Since you two don't seem to be competent enough to do so," I continued with a gesture towards the two bullies.

"What did you say?" Pancham sneered, taking a step closer. Deerling met him halfway, and shoved him back next to Shelmet with her front hoof. Then she turned to us.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "You know we're not allowed in the Foreboding Forest Espurr, and then there's you... uh..."

"I'm Sage," I filled in for her. "Nice to meet you."

"...and, uh, Sage," she continued. "You're new here. It's supposed to be pretty scary in there, and..."

"And!" Pancham butted in, cutting off Deerling. "That's why we should let our new 'friend' here save poor little Goomy. Since he thinks he's 'competent'!" He finished his suggestion with a challenging glare and a devious smile.

His face was so punchable it genuinely hurt my insides not to whip him across the forehead and leave a nasty mark. I wasn't entirely sure if I could reliably do such a thing yet with my unruly vines, but the urge was still in abundance.

"Shall we then?" Espurr prodded me, interrupting my thoughts.

I gave Pancham the same cold stare that Deerling was giving him, and without shifting my gaze, replied, "Yeah, let's go."


	4. Foreboding Forest

Chapter 4 - Foreboding Forest

This place was weird.

The Pokemon in the forest were totally feral, incapable of understanding any form of speech other than perhaps a battle cry. They trudged over fallen leaves or flew from branches of moderate hight, some even taking advantage of the uncanny darkness that the treetops cast onto Espurr and I.

I wasn't entirely sure what it was that she seemed to see in me that would deem me a useful ally, but the aggressive nature of the wild Pokemon made it painfully obvious that I needed to inform her about my lack of combat experience.

She predicted that I was going to say something before I could open my mouth, and politely asked me if I was afraid.

"It's not that," I answered with sincerity. "It's just that I'm not particularly experienced in any field of self-defense. I guess you could say I've never exactly been in a fight before." I rubbed the back of my head and chuckled nervously.

"Ah, I understand," she hummed. "I suppose that makes more sense. You didn't strike me as one to be scared of a few trees, so I believe you. In the meantime, don't be embarrassed about a lack of combat prowess. We all start somewhere, right?"

She took a few minutes to educate me on the basics of exploring the wilderness, from which foods were beneficial to the unpredictability of wild Pokemon, and how to deal with them. With her help I was able to determine that I knew two effective attacks: tackle and vine whip. Tackle was easy enough to understand so that I could immediately apply it to the wild Pokemon we currently ran into every couple of minutes. I just had to rush at an enemy and instinct took care of the rest - simple enough. My vine whip would still take some practice if I wanted to know how to aim it right.

As we came to encounter multiple wild Pokemon under the canopy of the forest, I came to appreciate her support immensely. For someone who went from human to Pokemon and got his memories power washed out of his brain, it really felt good to be making friends with someone else who seemed to have their head screwed on right. Before this I had been starting to think everyone in this world was insane, myself included.

After walking for a few more minutes, Espurr broke the silence of the woods, this time to converse rather than advise.

"You know, that must've taken a lot of courage to stand up to the class clowns back there. Pancham may have a bark substantially larger than his bite, but he's not totally inexperienced in dungeon combat. Insulting him to his face was pretty risky if you didn't know how to fight." Then she narrowed her eyes at me and grinned. "I will admit, though, his reaction was priceless."

We shared a laugh at remembering the look on his face when I told him he was incompetent. This girl certainly wasn't wrong, however, that I wouldn't have had a very fun time trying to fend off a pissed fighting type with nothing other than two vines that still had minds of their own. At least now I wouldn't have to worry as much since I could use tackle, not that I thought tackle was a very effective way to defend myself for long.

Regardless of my inexperience, the wild Pokemon here were vastly overrated by Pancham and Deerling, and after mastering the basics of using my attacks, I found myself mostly at ease when dealing with them. The Stantler here were usually too slow, and I would simply sidestep them and tackle them from the side. The caterpie were too weak, failing to do lasting damage before they too were tackled or vine-whipped into submission. I even managed to properly vine-whip a Tranquil, pulling it right out of the air and tossing it into the dirt below. Espurr excitedly clapped her hands at my accomplishment.

I was grateful she allowed me to get this invaluable practice in while she stayed behind to watch the rear. I might've questioned her fighting ability for her reluctance to lead had I not caught a glimpse of her psybeam attack utterly decimating a poor Furfrou. I made a mental note not to get in any sort of fight with this girl, ever.

After a good hour and a half of walking through the forest, we heard a whimpering sound coming from a bush. In it we located Goomy, camped on top of a tarp that had his name crudely written on it.

"Goomy!" Espurr called to him. "We're here to help!"

"E-Espurr?" he squeaked. "A-and..."

"My name is Sage," I answered. "I'm... new to the village."

"O-oh," the dragon-type said, blinking away some of the tears in his eyes. "Well, n-nice to meet you."

"Are you okay?" Espurr asked him, checking to see if he sustained any exterior injury.

"I-I think."

"What's that you're sitting on?" she questioned. Goomy looked down at the white tarp, before looking back at us.

"Pancham and Shelmet said that if I found this tarp that they had left behind out here when they were ambushed by wild Pokemon, and wrote my name on it, I'd have real guts."

"Goomy, how many times has Pancham and Shelmet made an empty promise that ended up getting you into these kinds of situations?" she sharply interrogated him.

Goomy hung his head. "I get it, I get it. It's just that... How can I be strong one day if I can't even prove those two wrong every now and then?"

"You've got plenty of youth left to worry about that, trust me," I reassured him. "Now let's get back before it gets dark. We'll prove them wrong together by bringing back that tarp."

Goomy had no objections to that, and he removed himself from his hiding spot in the bush. We rolled up the tarp and began walking back through the Foreboding Forest. Fortunately, we knew the relative direction we had come from, and our return was going to be much quicker than when Espurr and I were busy scouring the bushes for Goomy's terrified form. My mind fell into a static state as my feet dragged me along, and it would've stayed that way had something not poked at the edges of my mind.

 _"Not bad for a beginner."_

I hummed in surprise. There was a voice in my head.

 _"Relax, it's just Espurr. I can inject my thoughts into your mind via telepathy with a bit of my psychic inheritance."_

 _Perhaps there really isn't anybody normal in this village after all._ I thought.

 _"I heard that,"_ was the response I got. To my relief, the remark was lighthearted and of no offense.

 _"The reality isn't too far from that though,"_ she continued. _"Serene Village doesn't get hardly any traffic, so we make do with who we have without much regards to the 'status quo'. It all depends on perspective I suppose."_

Only once I felt Espurr's gentle presence leave my head did I dare ponder this, as I still wasn't willing to disclose my human origins to someone I met a few hours ago, even if they've already helped me more than I could express.

 _Perspective, huh? Is that what this whole changing into a Pokemon thing is at its core? Just a change of perspective?_

I really wasn't sure. I had to admit, I really was starting to enjoy being a Snivy even though it hadn't hardly been a day. By no means was I content with my displacement, but I noticed that blazing through the Foreboding Forest got my adrenaline running, even if we were spending most of our time looking for Goomy. It really felt good to explore like this, to experience the open world as a Pokemon. My new friend's company could be attributed to feeling this too, of course.

Deerling dashed up to us as soon as the three of us walked back into the clearing, and hugged an exhausted Goomy.

"Don't do that again!" she pleaded. "You _knew_ you didn't have to go in there."

While Goomy and Deerling were reimbursed, I turned my attention to the two who had caused all of it. I could see, to my satisfaction, the displeasure that poured out of Pancham and Shelmet's body language.

I had shown them up, and they knew it. I can only imagine what their reaction would be if they knew I had only been a Pokemon for around twenty-four hours and still gone somewhere that even their big mouths couldn't justify doing themselves. Disclosing my odd situation to a couple of troublemaking strangers simply to spite them wouldn't be a very smart play, however, so I settled with a one-liner to seal the deal instead.

"How's that for competent?" I hissed.

"You got some kind of problem?" Pancham snarled back. He took a step forward but froze when Espurr shot him a look that promised him death if he didn't tread lightly. He mustered enough self-control to simply huff in discontent and storm away with Shelmet in tow. Recalling Espurr's performance in the forest we had just exited, this reaction to her silent warning didn't surprise me much.

Deerling, now finished chiding Goomy, walked over to us. "Thank you so much," she said bowing her head in gratitude.

"It's no problem," Espurr answered with a nod. "Thank Sage, he did most of the work."

"Only because you helped me figure out how to use my attacks," I added sheepishly, uncomfortable with taking so much credit.

Deerling thanked us both again, and she and Goomy were on their way. Then I turned to Espurr.

"Seriously, thanks for your help in there," I told her. "I don't know what I'd have done without your support. Dealing with aggressive Pokemon isn't easy without knowing how to use attacks, as I have learned..."

"It's my pleasure!" she responded. A look of happiness adorned her features. "Perhaps that's one of the things that makes you unique, you know?"

I considered this for a moment before humming in agreement. She must've been referring to the thought she had read right out of my mind while walking back here.

"Maybe we're all a little strange, in our own little ways," she added. "I'll see you around."

She flashed me a smile before heading down the path back to town. I got a quick drink from a nearby stream before following suit. On my way back, a painful realization hit me and I facepalmed.

 _Nuzleaf! Oh crap! I totally forgot he told me not to go anywhere while he was out!_

I was fairly certain he wouldn't kick me out of his house after just finding me a day ago and already enrolling me for school, but I still didn't want to piss off the proprietor of my lone source of sustenance. Unfortunately for me, I'd probably already failed.

I arrived back at his house as the evening began to show its colors, and my fears were confirmed as I walked through the door.

"Dagnabbit, _there_ your little hind end is!" he yelled as his eyes fell upon me. "I done told you not to leave the house, did I not?!"

I allowed myself to be lectured for a couple of minutes before finally explaining the situation I had been wrapped up in. He didn't seem to mind that the Fennekin girl had dragged me around the village, but he seemed a bit upset that I'd gone into the Foreboding Forest and put myself in danger.

To my relief, Nuzleaf didn't press the matter far, saying that he understood my urge to explore. He just didn't want me to get caught by the Beeheyem, that was all. We ate dinner and bid each other farewell for the night as I secluded myself to my room. Without much energy left to think about the events of the past day, I drifted into a deep slumber.


	5. Misunderstood

Chapter 5 - Misunderstood

Consciousness pulled vividly at the edges of my senses as a beam of sunlight shone through the grated window. The sounds of Spearow squawking in unison with one another filtered down to my tired ears, drawing out an earnest yawn. A chilly draft filtered through as well - one of the last sighs of spring before it passed away for nine months. I lazily rolled over, still feeling the strain of my sore muscles from the afternoon exertion the day prior. I gave myself a quick reality-check.

 _My name is Sage, and I'm a human. I have turned into a Snivy. I remember absolutely nothing from beyond two days ago, barring my name and my human origin._

No amount of critical thought was enough to make sense of it all. I had actually surprised myself that I hadn't thought more about how weird this whole predicament was over the past couple of days. Instead I had just shoved it to be dealt with later, and gone about my day making aquaintenances in this world as if this was supposed to be permanent.

What could be done about this? What course of action could I take when I didn't even possess the foundational information to verify that my situation is even a plausible one? ...No, I was sure that I was a human, but did that make it correct? Was I acting off of a lingering recollection to be who I once might have been, or was everything I had done so far just the natural way a brain's motor functions would sieze the reigns of my unique conundrum? I was inclined to trust my own inquiry, but not being able to rule out my own insantity was enough to give me dreadful pause.

All I knew was that I didn't like it. I didn't like how I didn't have some sort of explanation for whatever happened to me. I _certainly_ wasn't prepared to happily submit to being a Pokemon forever. I didn't have any reason to do that.

I would've sat there longer mentally clawing towards some truth that rested far out of reach had Nuzleaf not summoned me for my first day of school. In order to have me recognized as a student, it was necessary to leave a bit early in order to meet the staff. The formality of this gesture coupling with Nuzleaf having already filled paperwork for me contradicted the carefree nature of the village, but I didn't make a big deal out of it. I didn't really feel like sleeping in anyway.

"I'll walk there with you this one time, you hear?" he told me. "But after today I reckon you can find your own way just fine. I reckon you've proven you're capable of handlin' yourself well enough as a Snivy."

I had no objections. We headed the same direction that I had been dragged to the day before, towards the plaza. Instead of heading out the gate to the west, Nuzleaf lead me down a wide path cutting north between Kecleon's shop and the Cafe. The road took about ten minutes to walk down, making me momentarily question why there would be a school this far from any other establishments in the village. My question was answered when we reached the front.

A fence was built between trees that were roughly fifty feet apart, with an opening at the center for people to cross through. On the other side the path opened into a massive clearing, featuring a unique outdoor classroom including an area behind the chalkboard that lead to the entrance to a forest. I assume this was where they conducted education involving mystery dungeons. To the side of the classroom area stood a steep plateau jutting up slightly from the ground, featuring a staircase carved into it leading up. The platform hosted three small buildings which I assume were reserved for staff use.

To my surprise, I saw Espurr from the day before already sitting at one of the wooden desks facing the chalkboard. I waved at her, and she waved back, her deep blue eyes sporting the same blank stare from yesterday. Relief filled my gut as I realized I would at least have someone here who I knew well and could talk to.

Nuzleaf lead me up the stairs and into the central building, labeled 'Principal's office'. The aesthetics of the interior crowded my vision as I entered, its beauty largely contrasting the simplicity of the outside. A large window behind the central desk allowed sunlight to blanket the entire room. Several blooming plants and flowers complementing two indoor ponds on either side of the room gave the space a natural atmosphere that made me relax a little bit.

On top of the desk sat a wooden name tag that read 'Principal Simipour'. Sitting at the desk was a blue bipedal figure with slitted eyes and a welcoming smile brandished on his face. Standing at his side was a brown, skinny Pokemon with the opposite facial expression: hypnotically wide eyes and a frown that cupped around two massive buck teeth.

"Nuzleaf!" the Principal greeted with a collected enthusiastic voice. "I see you have the child you mentioned accompanying you." He walked out from behind the desk and put a hand on my shoulder. "It is wonderful to have you with us little one!"

"Sir, are you sure this is a good idea?" whispered the brown Pokemon just loud enough for me to hear, crossing his arms. "We already have enough troublemakers here, we don't need the potential for another one."

Simipour turned his head and acknowledged him with the same smile he gave me when I walked in. "Now now, vice principal Watchog, how could you assume we have any troublemakers in our lovely school? All of our students are marvelous beings."

"You know all too well who I'm referring to," the unconvinced vice principal retorted.

"Hush," the principal quickly silenced him. "Take our new student Sage down to his class. It should be starting right about now."

Watchog huffed at the order, but he obeyed without another word. "Listen here," he told me. "As long as you don't cause any trouble, we'll be good as gold. Capeesh?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, but nodded before turning to wave goodbye to Nuzleaf. I didn't plan on being a rambunctious nuisance like this guy seemed to assume most children were by default, so I was unaware what he was going on about. His prejudice really made me wonder how and why he got a job at a school of all places.

We walked outside to find that the rest of the class had already shown up. It consisted of Deerling and Goomy sitting in the middle row with Espurr, and Pancham and Shelmet sitting in the back. A Farfetch'd stood at the front, holding his leek across his shoulder with a bit of chalk sprinkled on the end.

With no seats left in the middle row, I plopped myself down at one of the front desks. I suppose I could've sat in the back with Pancham and Shelmet, but I had enough foresight to presume that wouldn't end up being very productive. Whether they were incessant jerks all the time or they were only acting that way yesterday, it didn't matter; my first impression of them wasn't admirable.

"Humph," Watchog grunted. "She's late as usual."

"To nobody's surprise," mumbled Pancham from the back.

"Who's late?" I asked curiously. When I said it, a general atmosphere of exasperation practically swept through everyone's expressions, as if the very thought of this individual was overbearing.

"Only the laughingstock of the whole village," Shelmet snickered from behind me. And just on cue, we all heard a voice yelling from down the road leading to the school.

"Wait for meeee!" the feminine voice called. Popping into view, to my surprise, was the same ball of orange and yellow fur that popped out of a bush and dragged me to the plaza the day before. The Fennekin was taking long strides toward us, bounding through the entrance while Watchog glared daggers at her.

Unfortunately for her, it wasn't really her morning, and she came to regret barreling through so fast as she lost her balance trying to slow herself. Unfortunately for _me_ , her trip-up was carried by her momentum and led to her skidding right into me. I was knocked to the ground with a painful-sounding thud. Any soreness from yesterday that was numbed by the still morning dynamically shot back into focus, accompanying a new pulsing pain in my skull.

Realizing who she had tumbled into, she immediately panicked. "I am so so sorry!" she exclaimed in desperation. Pancham and Shelmet couldn't stop laughing, while Deerling and Goomy shook their heads at the scene. Espurr simply stared with her eyebrows raised. Watchog, I suppose, decided he had had enough and walked back up to his work residence, mumbling something about 'needing a raise'.

"Oh my! Shall I get Nurse Audino?" Farfetch'd suggested.

"Ugh- no, no, I'm good." I grunted. Leah offered me a paw, and I reached up to grab it with my vine. She pulled me up off the ground with a grunt of her own, and brushed some dust off of my shoulder.

The rest of the class came over to see if I was alright. Leah still had a look of distress on her face.

"I totally didn't mean to ram into you like that," she said with high concern.

"Are you okay?" Deerling asked.

"Yeah, you really got bodied," I heard Pancham remark.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine," I told everyone. "Not the first time I've been tackled to the ground in the past couple of days." I added with a laugh. I said this recalling a particular incident with a Stantler that caught me off guard the day before, and had sent me sprawling a dozen feet across the forest floor before Espurr swooped in and knocked it out cold with some kind of psychic blast. Espurr and Goomy giggled when I said this, confirming they got the reference.

"If you're alright, then we shall begin class," Farfetch'd declared, pointing his stalk authoritatively at our wooden desks spread out in front of his own larger one.

"Hey, teacher, uh... might I ask, why are you carrying a leek around with you?" I worried my question might sound totally stupid, but I was genuinely curious why he was wielding it like it was his prized possession.

"Well, for your information, this is actually a stalk! Not a stick, and not a leek, but a _stalk_ my young pupil. It would be very - ahem - far fetched for me not to use it!"

I cringed inwardly at the pun, and when I looked around, I wasn't alone. Only Shelmet thought it was funny, putting him in a hysterically awkward situation.

"Hah hah hahaha!" Shelmet laughed loudly. "Hah heh heh... eh..." His laughter quickly died down as he realized that he was the only one who twitched at the lame joke. "Heh... ahem." he finished, clearing his throat under the heat of our unamused stares.

"You're mentally challenged," I heard Pancham whisper to him.

"Shut up, it was kind of funny," Shelmet whispered back.

With that out of the way, we all sat down in our seats. Leah's seat was in the front-center, so I would have to deal with sitting by her for the school year. She'd come off as pretty annoying so far, but at least she seemed like she was a decent Pokemon unlike the two in the back row.

After some basic math lessons, Farfetch'd continued class by reading a story about a famous group that was involved in some kind of worldwide event. They were called a 'rescue team', and they went around saving Pokemon in need and exploring uncharted areas. It claimed one of their leaders was a mythical Pokemon. I was barely paying enough attention to catch what he was rambling about until one word stood out among them all.

"Human."

The protagonist of the story was some human who, from what I collected, did something relevant enough to get their ancient actions recorded in a school textbook. I listened in a bit closer, and although most of it was rhetoric intended to target a young audience (younger than this class entailed), I picked up some of the tale of fighting forces of evil and climbing vast mountains.

Another human, though! This information gave me hope that perhaps my situation wasn't as random as I had thought it to be. Then again, this was just a story, and I hadn't gathered any information that I could actually put to use, so perhaps I was overreacting a bit. Oh well, at least I knew that being a human in this world wasn't a total anomaly. Maybe from a modern standpoint it was, but not from a historical one.

After another hour of Farfetch'd's lesson, Watchog revealed himself again and began a lesson of his own about Pokemon techniques. In spite of his brash mannerism, everything he had to say we all knew already, including myself thanks to Espurr's makeshift field lesson the day before. By the frivolous way he doped up his "illustrious" teachings, none of us were going to tell him this and ruin the irony. It would probably ruin his whole day.

Meanwhile, Farfetch'd had set up a few stumps that were tall and skinny, and shaved down to the bare wood. As a class activity following Watchog's lesson, the bird pointed at them with his stick and told us that the first student to split their respective log in half with an attack would be rewarded with something called a sitrus berry. A fun game after a simple day of seated boredom.

He signaled us to start. I didn't really care about the food, I really just wanted to practice my vine whip. Carefully deploying both vines, I swung the left one at the center of my log, striking it about six inches higher than I'd aimed. I brought the right one across the log directly after the right, and struck home.

 _Just like I thought, I'm already getting used to using these._

I could see a gash in the wood as I admired my perfect streak across the center. It looked like it would only take a few more to...

"Good job Espurr!" I heard the teacher commend her from behind me.

While everyone had dashed (or in Goomy's case, dragged themselves) over to their logs to hit it with their attacks, Espurr had casually strolled over to hers before concentrating until the wood exploded from the inside out, scattering splinters across the yard.

 _Why couldn't I have turned into a psychic type?_ _That kind of mind-explosion power just isn't fair._

 _Oh well. I don't think I'm in a position to complain about my species, of all things._

With the conclusion of the competition, the large bell at the top of Simipour's building rang, indicating the end of the school day. I said goodbye to Deerling and Goomy, who thanked me again for yesterday, and then waved goodbye to Espurr before heading back down the path.

"Hey! Wait up Sage!"

I turned around and saw Leah jog over to me. I hadn't gotten far down the road, so I guessed she had seen me leave and followed me out.

"Want to walk back together?" she asked.

"Sure," I answered, and added with a laugh, "Just don't tackle me again."

She returned the laugh, and fell into a walk beside me. "I really am sorry about that. You know how it is being late, you just kinda panic and rush things. Totally my fault."

I couldn't say I knew what it felt like to be late for something like school without any memories of such a feeling. I supposed that it was similar to how I felt yesterday when I realized Nuzleaf was expecting me to stay at his house while I was off in the woods.

"It's no big deal," I reassured her. "I was just a bit sore from yesterday, so that's why I was slow to get up."

"Come on, I didn't drag you _that_ hard into the plaza," she emphasized.

"No, it's not from that. I walked for like three hours in Foreboding Forest looking for Goomy."

Leah froze and stared at me with wide eyes. "You went into Foreboding Forest? That's so crazy! All of the adults say it's forbidden... Were you scared?"

I shook my head. "Not really. Espurr was there to teach me a few things, and the Pokemon there weren't very challenging even though I'm a-"

I paused, cutting myself off from what I was about to tell her.

She looked at me funny. "You're a... what?"

"Uh... just inexperienced, that's all."

I left it at that. Technically it wasn't a lie, right? Fortunately, she didn't push my minced words any further, never deviating from a carefree stroll. Leah didn't seem like a bad Pokemon, but I still didn't feel comfortable revealing I was a human now that I knew it was such an immeasurably rare occurrence.

We talked about school and the village and other small topics for a few minutes, and we didn't even notice that Pancham and Shelmet were waiting by the side of the road.

"Yo, Sage!" Pancham called.

I turned my head, and caught sight of the two loitering around waiting for us.

"Hello," I responded curtly, giving him a quick glance before turning to walk off. I hoped that they'd take the hint and leave me be, but they weren't having it.

"Wait," Pancham called. "I wanted to commend you for saving that crybaby Goomy."

I twitched my nose. "Appreciated."

"But the truth is..." he continued. "Foreboding Forest isn't even that scary, you know? Anyone could make it in there, I mean even Goomy managed to locate that tarp."

"Even if his handwriting was totally wimpy," Shelmet added.

"I'll tell you what," Pancham continued, crossing his arms and sticking up his chin. "We know a much more challenging place where a wonderful treasure lies, that only those with real guts can handle. Are you picking up what I'm putting down, new guy?"

I laughed in his face. "You think I'm just gonna fall for the same trick that you used on Goomy, huh?" I snapped. "He may care about your respect enough to fall for it, but I don't. I'm smarter than that."

"Wait, did you say treasure?" Leah piped up, breaking some of the tension.

Pancham's gaze shifted over to her slowly, and he adopted an almost confused expression, as if he hadn't noticed she was here until just now. "We weren't talking to you. Run home and daydream about exploring or something, we have important business to attend to here."

"But, I-"

"Didn't I just say we weren't talking to you? Stop being the pest that you are!" Pancham snapped at her, making her fold her ears back and lower her head.

My mild irritation at their trickery was replaced with pure anger clawing at the tips of my vines. I had to restrain myself from vine whipping these two in half like the log of wood at the school. Leah might often act sporadic and a bit mischievous, but she clearly meant no harm to anybody. She'd done nothing to deserve being talked down to and cast aside like she had been all day. Who did this guy think he was?

"Anyway," Pancham started again after rolling his eyes. "There's this mineshaft built into a cliffside a couple miles from the village that leads a ways down to a treasure chamber. Rumor has it there are a ton of red stones stored away there. It's a restricted area, however, obviously because the adults don't want the rubies to all get stolen."

I was about to tell him exactly where he could shove his 'challenge', when I got an idea. It wasn't the smartest idea, and I knew right away that following through with it could cost me in more ways than one. But, I felt like a bit of selflessness couldn't hurt, even if it meant taking a bit of a risk. It's not like I had many friends in this world anyway, so what did I have to lose other than perhaps the integrity of my own well being?

The way Pancham, as well as Watchog and even some of the other villagers yesterday, talked to Leah really irked me. She hadn't done anything wrong, or at least intentionally done anything wrong. I planned on at least giving her a chance, since clearly nobody else would. And plus, by humoring these two idiots in the process, I would hopefully get them off my back.

"Fine." I told the panda. "I'll go. _But_ , Leah is coming with me."

Pancham appeared surprised at first, but his grin eventually grew even wider than before. "By all means."

I turned to face Leah, and her expression lit up upon realizing what I said.

"Come on!" she said excitedly, grabbing my hand and dragging me back to the plaza with a new spring in her step. "Let's go get ready!"


	6. Hill of Promises

Chapter 6 - Hill of Promises

As Leah and I were stared down by a territorial dragon-type, I began to piece together the situation that I had thrust us both into.

Two hours ago we were standing outside in the cool air, forming a plan to sneak into the mine. With no possible way to enter without being spotted by the edgy moles guarding the entrance, Leah decided to just make herself known. She pulled the stupidest trick in the book, a real classic: "look over there in the distance while we sneak past you". And it actually worked on the group of Drilbur who were loitering around the entrance. Go figure.

Right away the atmosphere of the right corridors we were enclosed in were damp and dreary. Here I was appreciative that I had turned into a snake Pokemon, allowing me to naturally slide through tight spots without too much struggle. The same could not be said for my companion, however, whose tail and ears refused to cooperate as profusely. They quickly became battered and dirty as they scraped against the wall with each tight spot, eliciting a discontented sound from their owner every time there was contact. I felt a pang of sympathy for her; the scales I had required no personal expidenture and provided the basic needs of the integumentary system, whereas someone with fur like Leah's likely needed constant upkeep.

We had reached an end to the mineshaft, but there was no treasure to be found. Instead was the entrance to a cave a bit wider than the hallways we'd been walking. With nowhere else to go, we headed further into the mystery dungeon.

Inside were plenty of rock and ground types that were perfect subjects for developing my one grass technique. The accuracy still wasn't pinpoint, but I could now reliably hit something within range if given the proper angle of engagement. Leah had a bad time trying to do anything against most of the Pokemon in there. She wasn't useless by any means, but her fire-typing made her susceptible to taking a lot of damage. A couple of bug-types showed their faces, to which I happily obliged to let her ember attack go to work. Other than those few moments, however, she stayed behind me and watched our six.

Except... when she didn't. I shockingly discovered that at one point she was not following me at all, and was nowhere to be found. I lost a good twenty minutes looking for her and battling wild Pokemon alone in the underground before finally locating her at a dead end. If not for the various stones that provided the dimmest of light possible, I would have been alone in the pitch darkness without her fire.

When I questioned her, she said that she "heard something cool and had to check it out." All I could do was roll my eyes and continue forward, only for her to do something like it again. I didn't even bother trying to reason with her once she's done it a third time. There was no point by then.

Misadventures aside, we actually made decent time progressing through the cave. Leah was radiating excitement in anticipation of finding treasure, whereas I, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly apprehensive that this wouldn't be as simple as Pancham had made it out to be. It simply didn't add up that he would claim this place was any more challenging than the Foreboding Forest, where the wild Pokemon were just as inept and I had a general type advantage.

It all made sense as soon as we arrived in the deepest chamber of the cave. A navy blue Pokemon larger than any of the enemies in the cave stared at me, his red belly contrasting the color of his head and appendages and complimenting the glare of death in his yellow eyes. Two skinny arms supporting massive fins for battering prey extended into a single claw for each. Now we stood, facing him in a standoff.

"Thieves here to steal what is mine!" he bellowed.

Leah's eyes got wide, and she objected. "No, not at all! We-"

"Quiet, wretch!" the Gabite snapped, his voice coarse from years of breathing the gases circulating through the dank air of the cavern.

He launched a blue pulse of energy from his maw directly at me, the commencing attack catching me off guard. It slammed into my side, and I felt a burning sensation where the attack landed as it forced me back several feet and sent me tumbling to the dirt.

"Hey!" I heard Leah's surprised voice echo through the room. Without hesitating, she retaliated for me by sending a myriad of flames at the dragon type. It wasn't a favorable type matchup, but the attack landed squarely and Gabite didn't seem to take it as well as he thought he would. I hopped up and ignored the sting I felt in my hip, preparing to help her.

Gabite recovered quickly and began to bring his claws down toward Leah, who was momentarily regaining her breath. Without thinking, I unloaded a vine and whipped it at his arm, going a bit too far and actually looping it all the way around several times. I took advantage of the unintentional method of interception by pulling back hard, yanking his arm from the air and leading it to miss the vulnerable Fennekin by inches. Gabite's balance was temporarily thrown off, and with a sweep of my remaining vine slashing at his ankles, he was sent crashing to the ground.

I could hear him growl at me, another dragon rage already building up in his jugular, when a laser of rippling energy intercepted him in the process of picking himself up. His head snapped back with a direct hit, and he ceased his aggressive resistance with hardly another grunt.

Me and Leah both sat there staring at him, gasping for breath despite the fight only lasting a handful of seconds.

That had almost felt easy, given the fact that we weren't here for a fight in the first place. I actually found it quite effective fighting alongside this hyperactive Fennekin. I probably picked up a bruise from that dragon attack, but other than that, we were fine. This dragon couldn't deal with a barrage of attacks from two fronts, even if it came from two inexperienced fighters.

Regardless of our victory, I wasn't a thief. I knew I had overheard Hippopotas say that Leah swiped something of his the day before, but when I looked at her we shared a mutual understanding. We couldn't just barge into this guy's cave take his treasure. It was a miscommunication that we were even here in the first place.

"Listen," I tried reasoning with him. "We aren't here to steal anything if it matters that much to you."

"Yeah, we aren't robbers," Leah added.

"Ugh..." Gabite mumbled, and proceeded to shakily stand himself up. When Leah clocked him with her psybeam, he might've gotten a concussion. He certainly didn't look like he was all there just yet.

"Fine. Because you beat me, and because you kids promise you aren't thieves, I'll show you my collection. But you shall not spread the word, understand?" he added with bared fangs.

We nodded in unison. He gestured for us to follow him to the back of the chamber. What we found was not a few red gems, but rather a plethora of riches and treasures piled into a room. This Gabite was insanely rich. Why didn't he store his things in a bank or something? Did the Pokemon world have a massive economy?

We bid the dragon farewell after a few minutes of gawking at his collection, and he settled back down to rest his aching skull. We reached the entrance to the mine after a walk back through the mineshaft, and were delighted to arrive back finally above ground. The Drilbur paid us no heed as we walked by them a second time, heading back to Serene Village.

"That was a pretty cool combo attack we did back there," Leah suddenly said, breaking the evening silence.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah, I guess. Really you were the one who did the attacking, I just tied him up." I looked at her with a hint of respect in my eyes. "You really cracked him hard with that attack. How do you even know a psychic move if you're not a psychic-type?"

She shrugged. "I've known it from birth. I think it's something called an 'egg move'. The teachers at school mentioned them once... But it wouldn't have mattered if you hadn't done that super-cool lasso thing with your vines," she added with a look of gratitude. "It would've been my head hurting right now instead of that Gabite's if you didn't step in. You really had my back in there."

I smiled at her. "Don't worry about it, I'd do it again."

"Nah, come on," she continued. "I gotta repay you for letting me come on this mission when you could've just cast me aside like Pancham. And saving me in the cave, I owe you for that too."

She sped up a little bit, and looked back at me, gesturing for me to follow in her pace. "I know! There's this one spot in the village with the best view! That should do it!"

I hurried after her as she left me in the dust with the head start she'd given herself. We arrived back at the village after a few minutes of running, but Leah didn't stop there as she continued running through the plaza and across the stream. She took a left down the path leading to the forest I had woken up in only a couple days ago, and took another left to walk up the large hill with the giant tree that I had seen upon first arriving at Serene Village.

I followed her up to the top and slowly walked up to take in the view. Before me stretched the entire village, but there was also so much more. An entire valley laid down to be admired, something I hadn't really noticed my first time walking through this back trail with Nuzleaf. Trees, so many trees, kissed the tops of mountain ranges rising from seemingly all angles. All of this was coated in a bright orange from the falling sun, the growing shadows from the mountains in the distance soon to overtake the whole valley. Up closer I focused on Serene Village itself, observing the concluding work and games of adults and young kids, respectively. They would all soon return to their homes and sleep the night away, to repeat the same process the following day. The lake, which I had never really realized was as large as it was until just now, shimmered in the dying sunlight.

A burning in my lungs reminded me to breathe.

"Check that out..." I whispered.

"Come sit with me," she beckoned as she plopped herself down on the grass to admire the view in relaxation.

I sat down next to her, still admiring the view.

"This is my favorite spot in the village. Sometimes I'll come up here to relax in the shade and think about things. It's a pretty popular spot, but I've always personally felt like this hill was special. T-to me, at least. Almost like it understands me."

I wasn't sure what to say. Based upon my first impression of Leah, I never would have guessed she was capable of stopping every now and then and pondering things. She had initially come off as nothing more than a troublemaking bundle of fur and energy. By no means was she in total control of herself, but irrational explosiveness was not a fair way to describe her like it seemed so many around here did.

Her voice snapped me out of these thoughts. "You see those clouds racing across the sky?" she asked me.

"The clouds?"

"Yeah," she smiled.

I tilted my head. "What about them?"

"They're free to fly wherever the wind takes them. They aren't held back by little bits of negativity or responsibility. They get to travel the world as they please." she sighed. "I... wanna be just like those clouds."

"What do you mean?"

"I wanna leave this village and see what the world has to offer," she dreamily explained. "I wanna join the Expedition Society and become an adventurer! It's my dream. It's just..." she looked down at the grass, frowning.

"Just... what?"

"It's just... whenever I voice this dream to those in the village, they laugh. The adults don't trust me, and my classmates think I'm... well, they think I'm a lot of things. Nobody really believes in me, you know? Sometimes I wonder if they're right."

"I think you could do it." I decided to tell her.

She looked up, her pessimistic expression replaced with one of innocent disbelief. "You really think so? Why?"

"From what I've observed, you've got a sense of adventure that I've never seen so keen in someone before."

 _Not that I've met hardly anyone to judge, with my memories and all... but I'm obviously not gonna tell her that. It would ruin the moment, and also give myself away._

"Don't you think I'm irritating though?" she prodded.

"No," I stated. "No I don't. You're not irritating, you're just..."

"A little crazy?" she supplied with a grin.

"Yeah, a little bit." I answered, returning the smile.

"Crazy like my dream?"

I hesitated for a split second before shaking my head. "You're dream isn't crazy, it's actually really respectable. I can honestly see it happening. You: an explorer."

"Seriously?" she said.

"Serious as a Miltank."

Her laughter filled the evening sky. I admit I laughed at bit too.

"Then... would you help me achieve it?"

I froze. That question caught me completely off guard.

 _She wants my help with something like that? We've known each other for like two days! Hell, I've only been a Pokemon for three. But..._ _I think I understand why._

She clearly didn't have any friends who she could tell this kind of stuff to, anyone should could count on. The way she was filled with excitement when she first met me, the way she panicked when she ran into me this morning, the way she pump-fisted in the air when I vouched for her to come with me to complete Pancham's challenge. They spoke for her. Serene Village didn't ever get a whole lot of new kids from what Espurr said, if any at all. She didn't want to screw this up and distance herself from me, I realized. She just wanted a friend.

"Sage?"

I drifted off into thought for a bit too long. She was looking at me expectantly, her head tilted a few degrees to the right.

"Yeah, I'll help you achieve your dream," I said with a nod. "However I can."

"You will? For real?" she happily exclaimed.

"For real."

She gave me a look of genuine gratitude that gave me a flighty feeling inside.

"...Thank you."


	7. Controversy

Chapter 7 - Controversy

"So what exactly is this Expedition Society you mentioned?"

Leah and I were walking back to the village after enjoying the hill's twilight scenery for a bit longer. The stream flowing into the lake sparkled in the reflection of stars that were just now beginning to show their faces, this scene hosting our conversation on this crisp night. In response to the subject change, the Fennekin inhaled a deep breath to build up for her explanation.

"The Expedition Society is the Water Continent's capital rescue and exploration organization. They help Pokemon in need and launch expeditions to uncharted lands with the ultimate goal of mapping the entire globe," she recited. It seemed like she had memorized the definition to the dot. I was impressed that she seemed to know so much about it when she hardly seemed to pay attention in class.

"So if you joined this society, you'd be able to go basically wherever you wanted huh?" I deducted.

She nodded her head with enthusiasm. "Yep! Their grand motive involves exploring the whole world. They're basically professional geographers who also make up one of the region's primary investigative forces."

"You really have done a lot of research on them, haven't you?"

She giggled. "I'm a big fan, in case you couldn't tell."

This conversation in part helped me recognize just how little I knew about this world. It was to be expected as one of many conditions credited to my situation. But still, it was offsetting that simple questions like 'what is the Water Continent' that circulated as common knowledge remained out of my cerebral library.

Perhaps this could change if I visited this mysterious Expedition Society one day, presumably doing so alongside Leah. I could learn about the world, and hopefully come to understand why I was here and how to get back to where I belong. It couldn't be all that rare for someone to wake up with no memories, and surely there had to be a system designed to help those particular individuals if this world was truly as developed as I had heard it was. What did I have to lose by seeking it out then? I certainly had plenty to gain.

Besides, from what I'd experienced in the Foreboding Forest and Gabite's cave, adventuring was a blast - a rather dangerous blast perhaps, but a good time all the same. It was definitely something I could get used to doing.

At the crossroads near the bridge leading to our houses, we ran into two familiar faces that were waiting for us. Pancham and Shelmet stood in our path eyeing us expectantly, and ponderings of the universe quickly transitioned into controlled hostility as I came to a stop at the roadblock.

"Hah!" Pancham laughed, looking the two of us from head to toe. "I knew you'd chicken out!"

"What do you mean?" Leah asked innocently. "We went all the way through the cave and back." She pointed to her ruffled tail that got dirty scraping against the thin walls.

"Thanks for the heads up about the dragon-type," I followed up with minimal effort to hide my displeasure.

"What do you mean? Did something scare you off?" Shelmet asked, not trying to hide his emotions either. Whereas my response hand been seething with satire, his smirk alone told me all I cared to listen for. Once again, my shoulder extensions tingled with an unspoken instinct to lash out for the sake of self-satisfaction, and I was forced to maintain my composure. I was beginning to grow tired of this.

"No," Leah responded, indifferent to their interjections. "We fought mister Gabite and won, but he asked us not to steal anything, so we didn't. I'd call it a success regardless of what we brought back. Anyway, I gotta go before my pops gets mad." She smiled at me and jogged off after waving goodbye.

Pancham and Shelmet were dumbfounded.

"Y-you said you'd get the red stones though!" Pancham accused. "No way you fought that monster in there! You're lying through your teeth!"

I stuck my nose in his face and hissed. "Oh, so you _did_ know that a Gabite was down there, huh? Guess that makes you the liar." Pancham was taken aback by my hostility and retreated a step in surprise. I then pointed to my hip, emphasizing where a purple bruise almost an inch wide had formed from the dragon rage attack. "This enough proof for you?"

Pancham didn't say anything, instead just staring at me in defeat. Shelmet couldn't bring himself to speak either. I scoffed at the collapse of their bravado.

"See you around," I finished with a hearty smirk thrown in their direction as I began walking back to Nuzleaf's house. I didn't turn around, but I could feel their gaze following me as I left them in my wake.

 _Damn that felt good._

I ate dinner with Nuzleaf, who was indifferent to my late arrival, and turned in for the night feeling content with myself.

* * *

My new body still wasn't used to extensive physical activity, so upon awakening following two consecutive days of dungeon exploring, I was too sore to get out of bed by my own will. I felt like lying in bed and basking in the sunlight shining through my window all day.

 _I really don't want to go to school, even if it's my second day..._

I saw the sun was already creeping across the floor, so I knew I would be summoned any minute. I awaited Nuzleaf's call from the other room, but instead I heard a voice different from his but still very familiar yell through the house.

"Sage! Time for school!" Leah called from outside.

I forced myself up, stretching my limbs before strolling into the main room. Nuzleaf was nowhere to be found, instead leaving a slip of paper on the table we ate at. I pushed it aside to read later, and popped a cheri berry in my mouth hoping to ease my stuff muscles. Leah was at the door, smiling largely at me.

"Let's go, don't wanna be late," Leah said cheerily.

How was she so hyper this early in the morning, especially after our little misadventure yesterday? I could barely will myself to move, and yet she couldn't _stop_ moving. She was an interesting character, that was for sure.

"Yeah, let's get going," came my response in the form of a yawn. "Don't wanna have to make a mad dash and put someone out of action for the day."

She rolled her eyes. "You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." I cheekily replied.

After a ten minute walk, we reached the school just in time for first period. The illustrious vice principal was waiting by the gate, his half-asleep daze shifting into wide eyes upon witnessing our arrival.

"Hmm?" he mumbled upon sighting us, giving us a curious look. "It's the troublemaker and the new child... and on time too...?"

"Morning sir," I greeted.

"Maybe his company is beneficial for the problem child..." he whispered to himself.

"Did you say something, vice principal?" Leah quipped, making his eyes go wide.

"Nothing!" Watchog huffed. "Hurry along now!"

We filed into the classroom along with the rest of the students who were all arriving around this time. After taking a few moments to greet and converse with Espurr, I saw Pancham and Shelmet arrive out of the corner of my eye, purposely avoiding me. The urge to say something snotty about yesterday's victory surfaced, but I suppressed it and let them be. Considering how provocative they had consistently been, I really preferred not to be the one to start anything unnecessary.

Class took a path similar to yesterday's, starting with math and spiraling into story time, or as Shelmet liked to call it, "naptime". I didn't blame him. No interesting stories about a human this time, instead just a short story involving some weirdo named "The Dashing Wanderer". I zoned out within seconds.

Concluding our reading lesson, we got up from our chairs and went back to the small field next to the forest where Watchog was waiting. I thought we'd just be having another lecture from our omnipotent VP, but instead he procured two bags for holding items and sat them in front of the forest.

"Today, we will be having a competition like yesterday, except this one will be a bit more complicated." he declared. "You will be splitting into two teams to clear the School Forest. When you complete the dungeon you will arrive at the back, where there are two flags planted in the ground. Each team's goal is to reach their flag and take it back here. First team to do so is the winner and will receive the coveted wondrous amazing invincible Watchog award!"

The whole class deadpanned at the vice principal's unyielding conceit. Fortunately, he was too busy trying to proudly stick out his undeveloped chest to notice.

"Hit the bench press some more bro," Shelmet snickered just barely low enough for him not to hear. Funny for him to talk; he didn't even have a chest!

"Sir, there are seven of us," Espurr mentioned. "Is someone going to sit out?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Watchog commented. "Espurr, I'd like you to sit this one out. Goomy, Sage, and Leah will be their own group, and Pancham, Shelmet, and Deerling will be one as well."

Deerling looked horrified. "Pancham and Shelmet!? Aw, can Espurr take my place?" she pleaded.

"Hush," Watchog scolded her, causing her to grimace. "Don't be so problematic."

"Yes! We get Deerling!" Pancham fist-pumped.

"Don't worry, we'll keep you safe," Shelmet cooed.

"Test my patience and you'll be the ones who need safety," she sternly threatened the ecstatic pair when the vice principal wasn't listening.

Watchog picked up the two item bags and handed them to each group. "In your bags there are a few items that will help you in the dungeon. Paid for right out of my own pocket I'll have you know! Use them wisely."

I looked inside ours. It contained an apple for each of us, a few different berries, and a seed of some kind.

Goomy slithered over to us. "Are we ready to go?" he asked.

"Yep," me and Leah said simultaneously. Without waiting any longer, we headed into the forest at the same time Pancham's squad did.

* * *

The school forest was a pushover. My time in the Foreboding Forest and the coal mine had given me sufficient time to come to terms with combat, so contributing was no issue.

About forty-five minutes in, we stopped for a quick break to let Goomy rest. Goomy was struggling a bit with the dungeon, but Leah and I were blazing through it, no pun intended on Leah's end. She wasn't content with our break however, and was anxious to get going again.

"Come on, they could be passing us up at this very moment!" she argued.

"Goomy, are you rested enough to keep going?" I asked him.

"Hah... I-I guess," he panted.

"Then let's gooo!" exclaimed Leah. She bounded away from us, leaving me to clamber after her.

"Chill out, wait for us!" I called after her. Unfortunately, Goomy couldn't keep up, and I would discover too late that he was not by my side when I finally reached the clearing where Leah was.

"Look!" she marveled. "There's the flags over there. And there's still two left, so I guess we win!"

"Leah, Goomy's left behind in the forest!" I panicked. "You ran off too quickly for him to follow! We gotta find him!"

"Oh..." she looked a bit concerned before shrugging it off. "Oh well, at least we have the flag. We'll find him on our way back."

Recalling the search through Foreboding Forest, I wasn't convinced. "Leaving him like that wasn't-"

"Dude, relax," she interjected with an impatient shrug. "We'll find him on the way back, no biggie."

I sighed and shook my head.

We'd better find him, or we're screwed.

* * *

We're screwed.

We looked for him for a whole hour before finally heading back to get help from the rest of the class. Pancham's team, despite reaching the flag after us, returned before we did due to the extra time we took to look for Goomy. Watchog, as I suspected, was not pleased.

"You _what_!?" he screeched.

"We lost Goomy in the forest sir," I mumbled. "Long story." I added in an annoyed tone, casting a sideways glance at Leah.

"Humph." she grunted, mainly at Watchog.

"Unacceptable! Inconceivable!" he screeched. "The activity is cancelled, and we will all go in there to find him immediately!"

"Yes sir," we both muttered.

Deerling was nothing in the neighborhood of pleased that we had abandoned Goomy. Fortunately for me, she made the assumption that it was Leah's doing, since such a mishap was so stereotypically characteristic of her in accordance to the village Pokemon.

"You're useless!" she seethed before whipping around and storming into the forest.

 _Wow. No holds barred from her, huh?_

Pancham and Shelmet snickered in the background, turning after her and strolling into the forest with the hustle of natural erosion.

We searched for Goomy for another hour before we finally located him camped up in a tree surrounded by wild Pokemon, scared out of his wits. After dealing with the ferals, we headed back with the less-than-pleased dragon type just in time for the end of school.

"You two will do extra assignments to make up for the time lost during our search!" Watchog commanded Leah and I. "Now, you may be all be dismissed."

We both nodded somberly, and got ready to leave. Deerling and Goomy were already out the gate, the former still furious. Pancham and Shelmet were right behind them, casting a quick glance at us and laughing about something.

The end of my second day of school left me with a bitter feeling in the pit of my stomach. Me and Leah walked side by side like the day before, but we didn't say a word. I stole a glance at her to discover that she didn't seem very distressed at all. Her patented peppiness was gone, but other than that she was carrying herself as though nothing was wrong. At the time, the sight rubbed me the wrong way, inciting me to break the silence with an aggressive interrogation. To my surprise, however, Leah vocalized her thoughts before I got the chance to, in a tone contrasting my own intentions.

"That was fun, I guess," Leah said while unsuccessfully holding in a carefree yawn. "Too bad we got yelled at, but that's just Watchog being Watchog."

"What?" I scowled, stopping dead in my tracks. Was she really so static on what had just happened? "No, Leah, I'm pretty sure Watchog isn't the problem here."

She halted too, and spun her head around to stare at me questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"Did I not try to tell you that we would regret running away from Goomy like that? That's on you. Care to explain any of that mindless enthusiasm that's just now gotten us in a ton of trouble?"

"What's there to explain?" Leah quietly answered, in a casual-annoyed tone. "We did what we had to do to get our flag first."

"Do you honestly think that winning that stupid challenge is what matters?" I challenged with another scowl. "Where is your head at?"

"We had an objective and we completed it!" Leah snapped, the air getting tenser by the second.

"Hooray!" I satirically celebrated. "And we only lost a _third of our team_ in the process."

"It was a mistake, okay? Mistakes happen! And besides, we got him back!" she retorted loudly, her face contorting into a snarl. A small voice inside me advised that this was getting out of hand, but I ignored it. It was too late now.

"Yeah, after two hours of him hiding in atree surrounded by wild Pokemon. What _incredible_ teamwork."

She huffed loudly and cast a waywar glance to the side, before shaking her head disapprovingly. "You just don't get it, do you?"

"Don't get what? How to miserably fail at adventuring?" I spat back.

I could see the hurt in her eyes, but she was too angry to let herself falter. "You care too much about the weakest link!" She was practically screaming at this point. "Sometimes you have to make a few sacrifices to accomplish your goals! Not that I'd expect an incompetent wimp like you to understand..."

I froze, before taking a single slow step toward her.

"I dare you to say that again." I hissed coldly, taking a threatening stance as my adrenaline started to rush.

Her voice lowered to match the coldness of mine, but the fire in her eyes remained. "You're being a _wimp_ dude _._ You're too sentimental to be an adventurer. Are you gonna do something about it?"

I stood there, staring her down with fire in my veins, my vines twitching impulsively inside my shoulder blades. It took every ounce of self-control to keep them sheathed. I felt like I was talking to Pancham, but even Pancham didn't dig this deep. It hurt, especially knowing that I really _wasn't_ going to do anything about it. We both knew I wouldn't attack her, and she had the gall to use that against me.

After I didn't do anything, she scoffed at me. "Thanks for proving my point."

In what I knew would probably become a regretful expression of self-control, or lack thereof, I snapped.

"The only incompetence here is _yours_." I hissed. "You're so insecure that you feel like you need to sacrifice someone's well-being just to win a stupid race so that you won't look like the loser that you are!"

She stared at me with wide eyes, expecting me to just stay silent and being entirely caught off guard. She opened her mouth to yell back, but I wasn't done.

"There's a reason why Deerling yelled at you instead of me when she found out Goomy was lost in the forest!" I ranted. "There's a reason why you repel everyone around you! It's because you can't do anything without screwing up! You wanna talk about the weakest link? You're the weakest link of this whole village!"

My rage was reaching a boiling point now. A little voice in the back of my head was again telling me to shut up, but the anger at the front of my head was telling _it_ to shut up.

"I understand now why you didn't have any friends when I arrived. You're in a world of your own."

The fire of animosity in her eyes had been snuffed and replaced with a cold empty stare. My words had struck home in a place I had not meant to aim, and the instantaneous sensation of feeling like total shit enveloped me. I stood there, watching her take it all in in slow motion, suddenly conflicted between my lingering anger and my newfound regret that was spawned by the former of the two breaking like a fever.

 _Shit..._

"Why am I not surprised..." she managed to choke out before taking off down the path, not wanting me to see her break down.

I think I tried to say something. Whether it would've been an apologetic gesture or just another burst of negative reinforcement would remain a mystery to the both of us, as her battered response echoed off of the trees.

"Don't waste your breath! You're just like the rest of them!" I heard her angered breaking voice cry out, her muffled breath receding into silence with each passing second.

And just like that, she was gone. She was well out of earshot. I stood there like an idiot, staring at where she had just been facing me. Clearly that hadn't gone quite as I had hoped when I brought up the subject of today's failure. In the next couple of minutes, I stood still in that spot, captivated as the repercussions of my decisions continued to make themselves clearer and clearer. What a shitty day this had been, and if I was being honest with myself, it would be stretching the truth to claim that it wasn't my own fault.

 _Nice going. Who's the loser now?_


	8. Pep Talk

Chapter 8 - Pep Talk

Four days. It took me only four days as Pokemon to go and do something stupid. That's barely half of a week.

 _What is wrong with me?_

I sat in my bed with no plans to move even though it was a bright afternoon. Upon my arrival I discovered that Nuzleaf was still nowhere to be found, and that the note he'd left detailed that he would be gone on a "business trip" that would last a few days. I was fine with that. I wasn't really in the mood to deal with others at the moment. God forbid I screw up my relationship with him too.

 _Was I really this big of an asshole when I was a human?_

What hurt the most was knowing how right that Leah girl was, even if she didn't really mean it. I _was_ a wimp, unable to keep my cool in some dumb argument. I let my weakness overcome me and I returned the favor twofold, jabbing her in an emotional place that I never should have considered aiming at. The fact that I'd known her for only two days barely numbed the pain. It just reminded me how quickly I managed to isolate myself from someone who trusted me so readily.

In a sense, I was a hypocrite as well. I had defied the very reason I gave her a chance in the first place. I got her hopes up by trusting her when nobody else would, just to utilize the "troublemaker" stereotype against her. It was a low blow, and knowing I made the conscious decision to do so tore away at my own dignity. I knew that "you can't do anything right" wasn't an accurate description of her, and now she had every right to assume I was just hopping on the bandwagon built to crush her dreams. I almost wished someone was here to scold me for my stupidity, for at least I would feel some remission for what I had done. Instead, I was stuck laying here alone and once again without any clue what to do, where to go, or who to talk to.

The cutting conclusion to the quarrel: her acceptance of my words made this so much harder to fix. In her head, the stereotype has won. She doubts herself more than she lets on, and I wasn't... _competent_ enough to see it. Making someone feel worthless made me feel pretty worthless myself, so much so that I almost felt like crying about it.

Part of me wanted to lie here all day and do something along the lines of nothing, but another part of me just wanted to be productive with my time. But what was there to even do? It's not like I had any leads on why I've become Pokemon, and I wasn't keen to go to any dangerous dungeons on my own...

 _"Something the matter?"_ a voice echoed.

My head shot up from its resting spot on the straw bed, scanning the room suspiciously. Maybe I really was going crazy?

 _"I'm in your head, silly."_

I put two and two together and assumed a certain psychic-type I knew was behind the voice. My sanity was safe for now.

" _Espurr, try to give me a heads up next time you decide to sneak up on my subconscious like that,"_ I said in my mind, assuming she could pick up on my thoughts the same way she had the day prior.

 _"Where's the fun in that?"_ she teased.

Was she trying to cheer me up?

 _"Where even are you?"_ I questioned.

 _"I'm by the bridge. I could feel your pessimism from all the way out here."_ she responded, sounding concerned. _"What's got you so on edge?"_

 _"Nothing... Doesn't matter."_

 _"Come on, you don't come off as someone who's just naturally depressed. Is Pancham getting to you?"_

If only it were that simple.

I shook my head, then felt stupid because she wasn't in the room to see me do it.

" _It's not that,"_ I telepathically told her. _"It's Leah. We got in a... a fight about Goomy, and I said some unnecessary stuff..."_

 _"You did? Well,_ _I don't personally know her very well, but I overheard your conversation with Pancham and Shelmet last night after you evidently went to the Drilbur mines. You two must've really come together to beat Gabite like that. I wouldn't like to think some silly words would totally isolate two people after that."_

 _"So?"_ I thought. " _That's down the drain now, nothing but a worthless memory tainted by an argument only a day later."_

 _"Don't be so sure,"_ Espurr replied. Even through telepathy I could hear her soft purr. _"The closest thing Leah has to a friend besides you is Kanghaskan at the Cafe, and that's only because she interacts with so many people. Don't assume she's so closed-hearted that one little slip of the tongue will keep her back turned to you forever."_

 _"Damn it, that's my whole problem though!"_ I exclaimed in my head. _"Her lack of friends was the very thing that I poked at. I said things not even Watchog or Pancham would!"_

 _"Relax Sage, yelling in your thoughts is really loud on my end."_

 _"Sorry,"_ I thought in a lower 'tone'.

 _"Anyway, I heard her mention how you let her come with you to the mines. She won't be forgetting that anytime soon, trust me."_ Espurr continued. _"Let me ask though, why did you let her come?"_

I rubbed my chin, considering her question.

 _"Well..."_ I mused. _"I... I saw the way the village treated her unfairly, even though she'd done nothing to deserve being so talked down to. She might've deserved a scolding perhaps, but nothing that warranted malice. So... I gave her a shot by vouching for her to accompany me, and she ended up saving me from what would've been a nasty dragon rage to the face."_

 _"You were willing to give her a chance then,"_ Espurr continued. _"Why not now?"_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _"Give her time to get over whatever personal demons she might be dealing with at the moment. When she's over it, she'll be there when you need her most. Just wait it out."_ Espurr assured me.

 _"You're sure of this?"_ I questioned.

 _"Eh... it's a highly likely scenario. I'd definitely be surprised if she didn't."_

 _"How would you even know if you two aren't very well affiliated with each other?"_ I challenged.

 _"Being a psychic-type tends to help with understanding psychology. Didn't I say I could feel your pessimism from outside?"_

She had a point.

 _"Fine, you're probably right... Thank you for that."_ I surrendered.

 _"That's better. Now, do you want to explore a dungeon together? No use in you wallowing around in your own sadness."_

I picked myself up, stretched my limbs for a moment, and walked outside. Espurr was leaning against a short tree humming quietly to herself. She looked up at me upon my arrival, a curious expeession on her face. I spoke with a grin, my voice null of self-pity.

"Why not."

* * *

That night my subconscious was plagued with dreams of the Beeheyem. Two of them approached me, only this time, their faces were replaced with Pancham and Shelmet's. I knocked them out easily before feeling a wave of nausea threatened to tip me over when I saw the third one. The Beeheyem was huge, and it had a Fennekin's face, the same one that had run away from me the previous day.

My eyes sprang open in the dark room, and I wearily gauged it for any sign of danger. It took about a minute to comprehend the gap between dream and reality, and I had to elevate myself into a sitting position to clear the mist out of my head. I looked out the window to find that it was still too early to go to school by at least an hour or two. It didn't matter; I clearly wasn't getting any more sleep anyway. Dreams that combine your different problems together and hurl them at you tend to keep you awake for awhile.

After a couple of hours passed, I ate some of the food Nuzleaf left for me and exited the house. I was surprised to find the bottoms of my feet soaked in cold water as a puddle had formed in front of the front door, an indication that it must have rained last night. I glanced to my right towards Leah's house apprehensively, not wanting to inconveniently run into her on the way to school. I assumed she was still sleeping, and the urge to go talk to her was ever-present in my head. I forced myself to shoo it away on behalf of Espurr's advice. Leah would figure this out as I would, and that required time. It was something that I shouldn't get distressed about. Plus, I wasn't trying to get bodied by her pops, who likely wouldn't be too fond that I said the stuff that I did. I assumed he already knew about most of it, or at the very least, that something had happened.

Me and Leah had planned to walk together to school each day, so it was a bit odd breaking this agreement only a day into it. I planned on just making do and going alone, but I was stopped by Espurr in the plaza.

"Going to school too?" Espurr asked.

"Where else?" I replied with an eyebrow raised.

"Cheeky as usual," she giggled. "But it's better than crippling depression I suppose."

"I'm _not_ depressed Espurr, come on," I pouted.

"Good." she answered. "Going to school with a drooping tail is a bad look."

We walked down the path, hurrying at the end when Espurr realized we were a minute late. I hoped Fartetch'd wouldn't chew us out, and was fortunate to find that he was preoccupied with watching a dramatic scene unfold in front of the class.

"Oh my," Espurr whispered. "What's this?"

There stood Leah, Pancham, and Shelmet, locked in a heated discussion.

"What's so funny, huh?" Leah snarled at Pancham.

Pancham chuckled, looking down on her and trying to contain more laughter. "What's so...? You're joking right? Please tell me you're not this stupid."

"I can make it if I try! I believe I can!" Leah retorted angrily.

"What makes you think the Expedition Society would accept you, of all applicants? You're a liability in a dungeon and you know it." Shelmet condescended her. Memories of my cutting words the day before shot back, and I felt the urge to deliver Shelmet a vine whip to his temple with indecent intentions. The urge doubled when I saw Leah's reaction, one that mimicked the recollection of the day before. I was briefly worried she herself would attack him.

"Whatever. I'll prove you wrong," she muttered before heading back to her seat, staring at the ground the whole time.

Crisis averted, class proceeded as usual. It was incredibly awkward to be sitting next to her, but it was bearable. She just stared ahead the whole time, lost in thought. When our third period finally rolled around, Watchog came out and cleared his voice.

"In light of yesterday's events, we will make up for it with another dungeon lesson! You can all that your illustrious VP, which would be me, for orchestrating this!" he announced.

Everyone cheered except for Leah and Goomy. I certainly didn't mind going on another dungeon run. I was actually hoping for one. The past day had me tense inside, and I needed to loosen up with a little action.

"Alright, our two teams will be..."

 _Please no Pancham. Please no Shelmet. And for awkwardness' sake, please no Leah either._

"Espurr, Sage, and Deerling!" Watchog bellowed.

I cheered inwardly.

"Awesome!" Deerling exclaimed. Espurr and I looked at each other and nodded, before walking over to Deerling and getting ready.

"Goomy, you don't mind sitting out, do you?" Watchog asked the dragon-type.

"I'd be happy to," Goomy quickly replied. I didn't blame him; his only options for teammates were the girl who abandoned him in the forest alone and the two bullies who he knew would've willingly done the same thing.

"Then that means Leah, Shelmet, and Pancham will be on a team. I expect you all to work together and not cause trouble."

Pancham just huffed, and Shelmet stuck his nose up into the sky in defiance. Leah didn't say a word and just stared at them with disscontempt.

"I have placed flags at the end of the forest," Watchog declared. "Remember the things your invincible vice principal has educated you on, and for goodness sake..." he glowered at Leah. " _Stick together_."

Leah did not cower under his gaze, instead returning it with twice the ferocity. She was clearly getting tired of being reminded about yesterday. I admit I was getting a bit tired of it myself.

 _I know he's pushing your buttons Leah, but please don't attack the vice principal... even if he sort of deserves it._

Leah's team (Pancham actually insisted that he would be the leader) prepared to enter. My squad was ready to go. Watchog counted us down, and we raced into the forest for the second time.


	9. Fire And Ice

Chapter 9 - Fire and Ice

Traveling with the two girls proved to be incredibly beneficial. There were no chemistry issues as the three of us clicked right away, and we found ourselves blazing through the dungeon with commendable efficiency. I already knew Espurr was strong, but Deerling impressed me with her overall aptitude exploring the dungeon. I had quite a few nice plays of my own on the way, and they complimented me for it. For a human-turned-Pokemon, I was progressing well. It probably helped that the trip through the forest was relatively uneventful, having been several stretches of nothing but trees lasting for several minutes.

During one of these spans of tranquility, I turned to Deerling with a question in my mind.

"Hey Deerling. If you don't mind me asking, what do you think of Leah?"

Deerling, snapped out of her thoughts by my question, turned to me with a confused look. "Hmm? What do you mean Sage?"

"Well..." I rubbed the back of my head. "It's kinda hard to explain..."

Deerling's face lit up, and she mischievously smirked. "Ooh, I think I get it..."

Confused, I tilted my head at her. Her grin only got wider.

"You _like_ her don't you Sage?" she jeered, her smirk now reaching the edges of her cheeks. "Don't worry, I definitely ship."

Espurr raised an eyebrow, expression otherwise unchanging. I just scoffed. "No, no it's not _that_ ," I assured the deer to the disappointment of her so-called 'shipping'. "We just... we actually got into an argument and aren't really on speaking terms at the moment. I just wanted to know what you... you know, thought of her character and all that."

Deerling stopped for a moment to rub the back of her head. "I mean, she's not a bad Pokemon by any means, but- well, how do I put this? She's kinda... in her own world, you know?"

"What do you mean?" I pressed.

"Well..." Deerling paused for a moment to choose her words. "She's erratic. Way too concerned with exploring to even consider anything else, often including the well-being of herself or others. Like this one time, she tried to get Goomy, of all Pokemon, to go with her up Revelation Mountain, which is the village's sacred landmark. She almost convinced him to go too... it's safe to say I wasn't happy about that."

I slowly nodded my head. It seemed like just more of what I already knew or assumed. It made sense once the full context of the village's lifestyle was taken into consideration. This place was built with maintaining tranquility and order, typically by avoiding drama at any rate. I'd seen it in the square: the villagers didn't seem to do much besides earm their living anew make light conversation and occasionally entertain their kids so that they might one day follow the same path.

I hadn't known Leah for too long, but I knew that definitely wasn't her. She exceeded the stereotype that seemed to be planted on her fire-typing from the cultural-judgment I'd observed thus far. Hell, the Fennekin seemed to _relish_ in it sometimes. It was no wonder that her personality clashed so violently with the agendas of a village that wasn't having any of it.

I was about to inquire more from Deerling when she spoke up suddenly and alerted our group to an obstacle in our path.

"Oh no!" Deerling cried. "The creek is flooded!"

Before us was a trench at least twenty feet wide cutting through the forest. Water rushed through it at surprisingly unpleasant speeds barely a foot below us. Leah, Goomy, and I had crossed this creek without any trouble the day before when we were racing to get the flags, so it was amazing to see that one night of rain could turn it into a raging stream.

"The natural dam to the east must've overflowed after last night's downpour." Espurr mused. "How inconvenient."

"How do we get across?" Deerling questioned.

I scanned the creek's edge until my gaze fell upon a dead oak idling a few feet from the small drop-off. It wasn't very tall or very thick, but it was just enough of both to fall completely over the creek and probably support the weight of the three of us crossing it. I formed a simple plan in my head, drawing inspiration from Espurr's psychic display of splitting wood on my first day of school.

"Espurr, do you think you could make that big tree there fall over the stream?" I proposed. She looked in the direction I was referring to, and after a moment's contemplation, nodded her head.

"I can do that," she affirmed. "But it will take a few moments of concentration. In the meantime, you two will probably need to stand back so you don't get impaled by a stray splinter."

Me and Deerling followed her advice and stood a good distance back behind cover, watching Espurr put her hands to her temples in concentration and slowly opening her ears. The air around her reverberated with visible waves of energy, and we heard an earsplitting crack that carried all throughout the forest. After a few more seconds of Espurr's concentration inflicting internal hemorrhaging on the tree, we finally saw it buckle near the bottom and begin to descend over the creek. It hit the ground on the other side with a thump and laid still.

"Yeah, Espurr!" Deerling and I cheered.

"Come on, let's get going," a flattered Espurr told us as we emerged from our cover.

Deerling went first, stumbling a bit with her hooves before finding her footing enough to move forward. Espurr walked on the log next, balancing with no trouble and casually strolling across. I went last, wobbling a bit before I too found equilibrium and started forward.

The next few moments were a blur that I would rather forget. Something bright orange slammed into the middle of the dead tree from an unseen angle, shifting it under my feet and nearly causing it to break in half. Deerling, who had just reached the end and hopped onto the other side, turned back to find that Espurr and I were in peril of having the tree collapse under us. From the impact I could immediately smell smoke.

When the second ball of fire came, I caught a glimpse of its approach and was able to react just fast enough before it struck. My vine whip caught the back end of Espurr's astonished form as she was sent careening off of the log and to a halt beside Deerling a millisecond before the burst of flame struck. I heard a dreadful _crack_ under my feet, and felt the floor disappear.

"Sage, n-!"

Everything was cancelled out by the rushing water flooding my consciousness with knives of ice. The creek's floor wasn't at all deep, leading me to be tossed into it a few times and pick up a few scrapes. The water's chill shocked my nerves for the first few seconds of being submerged. I fought to regain the strength in my shocked muscles until I finally managed to slow myself enough to allow for an escape. I stopped myself by catching a root sticking out of the ground with one of my vines, and pulling against the current to lift myself out. After a few moments of exhausting labor, my strength finally overcame the drag of the water and I ascended out of the raging creek. Fortunately I had managed to pull myself out on the side I had intended to reach, so I wouldn't have to start the whole process over again. The water had carried me a ways down from where I fell in, so I would need to walk for a few seconds before I reached my team again.

Hardly bothering to recombobulate myself, I shakily ran back to where the other two had gotten off the tree before its collapse. The scene playing out there made me quickly hide behind a large birch before being seen, as I puzzled together what was transpiring.

Before a distressed Espurr and a furious Deerling stood Pancham and Shelmet, and standing a bit behind them was...

 _Leah...? What is she...?_

Espurr noticed my presence immediately with her psychic abilities, and acknowledged me telepathically.

 _"Sage. Are you okay?"_

 _"I'm fine. What the hell is-"_

 _"I don't know. Stay put for now, I've got a feeling they might be here for more than just a chat."_

Every neuron in my being screamed at me to make my presence known, but I fought the urge. She was right, this didn't look like it would end peacefully. Plus, I wanted to see what those three had to say, especially a certain Fennekin.

"You just... Did you just do that?!" Deerling accused.

"Deerling, Deerling, if only you'd understand," Pancham jested. "Sage deserved every bit of it."

Deerling's rage was slowly overcoming her, and it seemed she would lash out at him at any moment.

"Do you think this is some kind of..."

"Game?" Pancham rudely interrupted, compounding Deerling's rage even further. "Not at all. We're just teaching that arrogant no-gooder a lesson, that's it. He's done nothing but disrespect us, and he knows it. He even hurt poor Leah's feelings and made her cry."

 _Leah told those jerks about our fight?_

 _Hold_ _on... he just said I made her cry? Is that why she took off so suddenly? Oh shit..._

Pancham approached Deerling, his words taking on a new level of malice with each step. "He's the real bully, Deerling. Thanks to her..." he gestured behind him to point at Leah, whose expression was hard to read. In contrast to the events that just played out, it appeared as if she was almost regretful of what she just did. I certainly wouldn't expect her to be comfortable working with her arch-nemesis on anything this malicious, so I wasn't too surprised. "...we've put him in his place, and we're gonna return our flag first. We'll see how he likes that."

"What about Espurr, huh?" Deerling snarled. "What about me? You've just dragged us into this without any thought at all!"

"You gotta do what you gotta do. Get over it," Shelmet jeered, shrugging to indicate their words were justifiable.

"No! You don't just get to push us around, you pricks!" Deerling retorted. "Move!"

"Sorry," Pancham shrugged. It went unspoken that he wasn't.

"You're going to move out of our way." Deerling slowly threatened. "Or we will make you move."

Espurr followed Deerling up with a threat of her own. "You don't honestly think I couldn't wipe the floor with you three, do you?" she quietly remarked, sporting her own out-of-character snarl. Pancham and Shelmet, fully aware of Espurr's strength, each backed up a step. They clearly hadn't banked on her involvement.

It was Leah this time who spoke up, all of her uncertainty disappearing and breaking the awkward tension that rang in the air to replace it with the spark of imminent conflict.

"Try me!" she snarled right back at her, a new expression of anger springing forward with both syllables.

"Gladly." Espurr countered, putting her hands to her temples.

The sides had clearly been chosen by all parties in question, myself included. Now fueled with anger, I planned to make that evident to everyone.

My emergence from my hiding spot was timed perfectly with the launching of Espurr's psybeam, a tactic we had communicated through a telepathic conversation moments before as Pancham was rambling on about "teaching me a lesson". The psychic blast hit an unprepared Shelmet head on, sending him flying right into my two swinging vines in a combo attack that sent him into the mud, out cold. He never even got a chance to react.

Deerling, taking advantage of Pancham's momentary confusion at what just happened, spun and slammed her back hooves right under his nose. The double kick attack was super effective, staining his white face with a trickle of blood running from his lip. He covered his mouth in pain, unintelligibly cursing as he lost his balance and fell back. It would probably leave him with a busted lip for at least a week, and it's safe to say none of us would be shedding tears for him.

I realized my mistake in what should have been a moment too late. I had wasted a half-second to glance over at Deerling's attack, which wasn't given enough time to be coordinated with my emergence. My stupid curiosity left my entire left flank wide open to the third obstacle, and I knew to brace myself for the burn before I could even see it coming.

Except it never came.

I whirled around to meet our final opponent, and our eyes locked together. Leah's gaze held the same friction that advertised her animosity, but there was something different about it this time. It wasn't that it was calmer, or smaller, or any less of an objection to my own stare. It was that this time, Leah's gaze carried something that it didn't have yesterday when we were chewing each other's ears off, and the same thing it had just exhibited a moment ago when Pancham was giving his ridiculous justification:

Uncertainty.

After my vine whip on Shelmet, she had a wide open attack on me, and could have easily fried me where I stood just as quickly as I turned around to face her. But she didn't. Whether it was because she simply wasn't up to the task, or she was truly apologetic for our fight the day before, I wouldn't know. Nor would I get the chance to ask her.

She pivoted off of her hind legs and ran off into the trees without a word, ending the awkward stare. Based off of her direction I couldn't tell where she was going, but it didn't seem like she had any interest in the flags... not that the petty race to complete the dungeon was what mattered to us at the moment anyway.

Deerling spoke with a dumbfounded look plastered on her face, her voice riddled with disbelief. "What could you have possibly argued about that would lead to all of _that_?"

"It doesn't matter," I coldly replied as the rush of adrenaline slowly dissipated. "Let's just get this stupid flag and get out of here."

"But what about-"

"Forget about these two." Espurr interrupted her. "Neither of them are badly hurt. Shelmet will be fine in a little while, neither of us hit him that hard." Espurr gestured to his unconscious form, drooling in the grass. Deerling stared at the panda still clutching his lip, failing to stifle the small trickle of blood from the wound she inflicted, before finally sighing and walking over to me.

"Alright, fine. They won't dare tell the teacher we beat the daylights out of them since they're the ones who instigated the fight. Lucky us, I guess..." she said.

Espurr walked over after her, meeting my gaze and nodding. "Lead the way," she told me.

I nodded back and headed further into the forest, a slew of thoughts plaguing my mind. I just needed to stay focused at the moment, and worry about all of this later. Watchog would be awaiting our return.

"Hey, look! The flags!" Deerling cried after a few minutes of walking in silence.

* * *

We decided to temporarily put aside our differences and help a rather-disoriented Shelmet back to the school along with Pancham. Deerling was a bit apprehensive about the extensions of our sympathy, but Espurr argued that as classmates it wouldn't be ideal to start a turf war. This had just been a one-time spat, she said, and it would be best kept that way.

Not that I cared. I was too preoccupied brooding over Leah's involvement to even think about the other two. I only sided with Espurr because she was the only constant in my memory-stricken existence that I could latch onto at this point.

Deerling would eventually acquiesce to Espurr's reasoning and offered to lend us a reluctant hoof. But when we reached the clearing where the confrontation occurred, Shelmet and Pancham were nowhere to be found. We arrived back at the school to find the battered pair being treated by nurse Audino. They did not acknowledge us when we arrived, avoiding our gaze and trying to act as though nothing had happened.

Goomy, on the other hand, was colored nervous waiting for us. After seeing the other team limp back in their unkept state, he was relieved to see the same didn't happened to us.

"Good job, team!" Watchog commended us as Deerling brought he flag to him.

"What happened to them?" Espurr feigned, gesturing at Pancham and Shelmet. I could've sworn I saw Pancham bare his teeth at her clever ploy of innocence, but he made it subtle enough for nobody else to notice.

Watchog just sighed and condescended them. "They failed in their mission to complete a dungeon as simple as the School Forest, I'm afraid. Their poor teamwork undoubtedly lead to their defeat. All it took was a pack of Stantler and a bit of discombobulation. The troublemaker told us all about it before dashing off. For the love of Arceus, kids, _please_ don't turn out like they have."

We all nodded. Just as Deerling predicted, none of them were willing to take the fall just for the satisfaction of seeing the same happen to us. They would merely have to deal with their damaged pride (and damaged face, in Pancham's case). I personally didn't care one bit. They deserved it; all of them did.

 _Idiots. If you're gonna start a fight that doesn't even need to happen, at least make sure you're the ones who win it. This is just what you get for being stupid._

I wouldn't allow such snarky comments to be released through my lips in the current setting with Watchog around. But that didn't prevent me from biting my lip and narrowing my eyes at the pair of bullies when I got the chance. That river had been really damn cold, and I wasn't about to forget it.

I bid Deerling and Goomy farewell for the day, and was about to leave myself when Espurr stopped me.

"Hey..." she said softly, looking a little nervous. "I wanted to thank you for saving me in there. I almost..."

I smiled, recalling my last-second vine whip that sent her just far enough to not be submerged in the water with me. Considering her small size and fluffy fur, it occurred to me that she likely would not have fared nearly as well as my slick body did in the tumbling rapids.

"...almost took a dive?" I finished for her, putting a vine on her shoulder in reassurance and giving her a lukewarm grin. "Hey, don't sweat it. I got your back. It's what friends do."

The monotone voice she usually spoke with was colored with a pitch of concern. "You're... still shivering, you know."

What? I did a brief self-evaluation, and discovered that underneath the stress of the past hour, I hadn't really warmed up much. She was right: the water carried with it the chill of the passing spring season that would linger until the temperatures rose a bit more in the coming months.

Before I could conjure a response, I found that a substantial source of heat was coursing through my scales. Espurr wasn't very tall even compared to my unimpressive height as a Snivy, but saying that the tender embrace merely did its job would be vastly underselling her. She was incredibly soft, and it dulled every sense of touch and thought. If pillows could read your mind and split trees in half without touching them, she would fit the description superlatively. I returned the hug with my vines, which was weird at first, but I made sense of by simply using them as arms would be used.

It only lasted a few seconds before she broke it off, somewhat to my disappointment. She began walking back to the village with a final wave.

"See you around, Sage," she purred before walking off down the road. I stared after her, deep in thought.

 _At least I have her, right? Yeah. I can definitely trust her, unlike..._

All of my thoughts rushed to the forefront of my mind. The situation concerning Leah; the situation concerning Pancham and Shelmet; the situation concerning _myself_...

Plenty of food for thought. I definitely had some things I needed to sleep on.


	10. Isolation

Chapter 10 - Isolation

The next morning carried anything but a pleasant awakening, following a restless night deterred by troubled thoughts and fatigued muscles. When I tried to move at first light, my limbs defied my brain, tightening up in recollection to the water ride I had unwillingly embarked on the day before. So much fog filled my vision that I nearly ran right into Nuzleaf on my way into the other room.

"Howdy kiddo!" he chimed upon my entry.

"Wha- Nuzleaf, you're back!" I cheered, and gave him a hug. He seemed a little surprised, but he returned the act of affection without fail.

"Yessir, I wasn't gone for _too_ long I reckon. How've you been holding up? Anything interesting been happenin'?"

I thought about the events that transpired over the past few days, and decided it was best not to say a word about any of it, particularly yesterday's confrontation.

"No sir, just school as usual," I replied casually. "Nothing interesting going on."

"You sure?" he said with a hint of concern. "If any of them kids is pickin' on you I'd be happy to have a chat with ol' Simipour."

 _Picking on me? Ha! After yesterday's victory, that shouldn't be a concern._

"No, I'm getting along with everyone just fine." I innocently assured him. That satisfied him enough to move the morning conversation to other topics such as the weather and breakfast.

I made my way to the school in decent time, and another day of class began. In third period Watchog gave us a lesson about attacking as a team, and he allowed us to use him as our target. He assumed he was strong enough to easily tank through any attack we could throw at him, claiming to be "invincible". He regretted that statement many times over, and I was proud to say I was the first one who made him double over in pain with a vine whip to the gut.

Another couple of days passed without anything incredibly interesting happening. Pancham's lip was still swollen after being clocked by Deerling, and he and Shelmet did everything they could to avoid me. Leah, who had been a huge talker before our argument, barely said a word each day.

I didn't care. I was still seething that she plunged me into a cold river, but it made me twice as angry that she did it with Pancham and Shelmet of all Pokemon. She hated those two even more than I did!

Forget her stereotype. I wouldn't be associating myself with her anymore. I didn't even care if she was sorry about any of it. Dunking someone in a chilled torrent of water and then running off when it backfired isn't the best way to make up with someone after calling them a wimp, even if she was kind of right at the time.

The one thing I couldn't understand was why I felt so strongly about this. I hardly knew this girl, right? Why, then, did I feel like I had been betrayed? I supposed it was because of the talk we'd had on that hill after our trip through Gabite's cave. It had felt so genuine, even for two individuals who had barely met a few days prior. Perhaps I was just getting caught up in this as an escape from the even bigger issue I was dealing with. Yes, surely that had to be it.

Notwithstanding an expedient turf war, school went on as usual. Day by day I got more accustomed to the routine of everyday life in Serene Village. Here I was hoping it would stay that way.

It wasn't until one day, after nearly a week had passed since the forest fight, that more drama occurred. Farfetch'd was late that day, and I was abruptly put on the spot in front of the whole class with a question that made my blood run cold. And done by Pancham, to my absolute lack of surprise.

"Has anyone wondered where Sage is actually from?" he suddenly said out of absolutely nowhere.

"Hmm," Deerling mused. "I've wondered that myself. You kinda just showed up out of nowhere."

"Wait, you're not Nuzleaf's kid?" Shelmet questioned. Everyone stared at him, trying to figure out if he was kidding or not.

"...It's true," I heard Leah say, the sudden sound of her voice sounding almost unnatural and catching me off guard. "You never mentioned anything about where you came from."

Everyone was looking at me expectantly, like I had some divine obligation to tell them. Even Espurr's usual blank stare couldn't mask her curiosity. I shook my head.

 _There's no way they'll believe me, right?_

I thought for a moment, considering.

 _But then again... What do I have to lose? I mean, Nuzleaf believed me right? Why shouldn't they?_

"Aye! Earth to Sage!"

Pancham's shout, lulled a bit by his swollen lip, snapped me out of my thoughts. I sighed. Here went nothing.

"I'm not from... this world," I told them. They looked at me like I had dodged the question entirely. I didn't blame them.

"I'm from the human world."

Silence for a moment was followed by a few gasps followed by a snort of disbelief from the back row. And then laughter.

Of course.

 _Ah, I knew I shouldn't have said anything! Why couldn't I have just lied and claimed to be from the deep country or something stupid like that? They already thought I was a jerk for making Leah cry, now they think I'm a liar too. I'm on a roll._

"Do y'all actually believe this liar's stories?" Shelmet giggled.

"Of course not. Jeez Sage, if you're gonna lie to all of us, at least make it believable!" Pancham snorted.

I scanned the rest of the classroom, looking for support. But I got none, except from Espurr.

"Why would Sage lie about something like that?" she genuinely questioned them. "What does he have to gain?"

"Attention, obviously!"

To my dismay, Espurr did not argue the point any further. I couldn't fairly be mad; claiming to be from a mythological world would be reduced to attention-grabbing every time by anyone smart. Just because I knew it was true didn't make it realistic to others, unfortunately. Deerling and Goomy looked much too shocked to actually believe what I said, and Leah... her expression hardly changed at all.

 _Shit. T_ _his is awkward._

Before things could escalate, a voice sounded above the class from in front of the offices above.

"Sometimes it is the most unbelievable things that you must believe in the most." Principal Simipour strolled down the steps to stand in front of the class. He bore his trademark "smirk" (he always called it a smile, but Shelmet never bought it) and carefree composure.

"Perhaps what Sage says isn't true..." he continued. "But suppose it is true? How fair would it to judge him before you find out for yourself?"

Nobody said I word. I silently praised the man, and shot him a grateful look.

"...not that I heard anything Sage said, haha!"

The whole class, including myself, deadpanned. I wondered if his short speech would have been quite as favorable to myself if he had overheard my unlikely claims.

"But the moral is this: the gravity of your perspective defines your reality. The angle at which you see things determines what is there to be seen. It is the prism of truth." he finished, capping off his speech with a nod toward me that I returned gratefully. Nobody else did, however, probably all thinking he was a little out of it.

Farfetch'd showed up before he could say anything more, and class began as usual. I let the lesson drone out the awkwardness that still hung in the air, and the rest of the day went by smoothly.

I walked back to the village with Espurr. Goomy and Deerling were going to come too, but Audino wanted them for something. We casually talked along the way back about schoolwork and the village and how ridiculous the vice principal was for unsuccessfully trying to tank all of our attacks for a battling lesson. I was grateful that she didn't bring up the awkward human topic that I was certain had been hovering at the front of her curious mind all day. I supposed that was just something that would have to blow over. Hopefully Pancham and Shelmet didn't give me too hard of a time about it.

When we reached the plaza, we saw the three Pokemon that had chewed out Leah on my first day at the village circled together. Carracosta, Hippopotas, and Lombre all were discussing something that sounded vaguely interesting, so Espurr and I decided to listen in.

"No way, I didn't get nearly a good enough look. I'm not trying to get poisoned anytime soon," Lombre said, looking disappointed.

"It is to be expected, I suppose." Carracosta answered him, putting a large hand on his shoulders. "Don't worry yourself. The honey-making season isn't known for its ease of intrusion."

"Zat is true..." Hippopotas concurred. "But who doesn't like zemselves a taste of ze Combee's honey? It is vorth ze risk, in my opinion."

"I can't say I agree," Carracosta argued. "It's best to just be patient and wait until the danger has passed. Nectar Meadows is no joke at this time of year."

"Uh oh, looks like honey season has begun," Espurr whispered to me, drawing my attention back to her.

"Honey season?" I inquired.

"Yes, in Nectar Meadows," she explained to me. "It's a large mystery dungeon closeby that's full of flowers. Bee Pokemon go there to make honey around this time in the spring. They're rather hostile, so it's ill-advised anyone goes there, even including the strongest adults in the village."

I nodded in understanding. Lombre had mentioned poison, and Espurr had mentioned bees, so that likely meant bug and poison types. Those were two matchups that were not favorable for me.

"If we're gonna explore a dungeon this afternoon," I told her. "Let's definitely not go there. I don't think my grass-typing would fare well."

"Agreed."

"Excuse me," a faint voice was heard over by the group of adults, shifting my focus back over to their conversation. A little green Pokemon, too young to be in our class, stood by them and requated their audience.

"Oh, hello Budew. You're Roselia's little one, aren't you?" Carracosta asked.

"Y-yes," the child responded. "But, my mom... She's not feeling very well at all. I heard you talking about honey at Nectar Meadows, so..."

"Woah there, little one," Lombre intervened. "I'm mighty sorry to hear poor Roselia is feeling down, but going there right now is a very, very bad thing to do."

"Lombre is right," Carracosta said. "It is not a place for a wee little one like yourself to be at this time of year. You'd best stick by your mother's side instead. That will surely help her get better."

Budew just nodded before running off. At that moment I thought nothing of it.

Espurr and I, putting the conversation towards the back of our minds, explored a nearby river with Deerling and Goomy for the rest of the day. I went to bed that night still inwardly cringing at my failure to get everyone to believe I was a human earlier. It wouldn't keep me awake for long, however, as my exhaustion from playing all day by the riverbank with my friends overcame me.

I woke the next day and went through my normal morning routine. I walked to school and arrived at the usual time, sitting down in my seat and waiting with everyone else arriving for class to start. This time, instead of Farfetch'd teaching our opening period, Audino replaced him.

"Alright kids, time for health class!" she declared with a smile.

Shelmet's voice sounded off from behind me, a hint of disgust laced in it. "Egh, we're not gonna learn about that nasty stuff we talked about last time, are we?"

"No, Shelmet, no worries about that." Audino laughed. "Today, our topic will be evolution. Does anyone know what evolution is?"

"Evolution is what happens when you become an adult," Leah answered with a paw raised.

"Not even close," Pancham scoffed. "Evolution just makes you bigger, that's all. It has nothing to do with being a grown up."

"Well," Audino began. "In a sense, Leah isn't entirely wro-"

A sudden cry from the school gate interrupted the lesson. "Excuse me!" an approaching Pokemon exclaimed, catching everyone's attention.

"Oh, Miss Roselia!" Audino said, sounding a bit surprised. "I thought I prescribed you to stay in bed for the week with your illness!"

"I know..." she wheezed, out of breath. "I'm here because... because I can't find Budew!"

Everyone in the classroom, including Audino, gasped in shock.

"W-We haven't seen your child, unfortunately," Audino said, mirroring her distress. "In the meantime, you need to get some rest. I'll contact the sheriffs about Budew after I make sure you haven't overworked yourself."

Audino led Roselia away to the infirmary, leaving the class to converse about what was just witnessed.

"This could be bad," proclaimed a nervous Deerling. "What if Budew's in trouble?"

"Trouble?! Oh no!" Goomy exclaimed after her.

"Come on, Deerling. There's probably nothing to worry about," Pancham tried to assure her. "Roselia is just overreacting."

"How could you say that?!" Deerling cried. "Of course a mother will panic when her child goes missing!"

In the midst of it all, I vaguely recalled the conversation that I had overheard the day before in the plaza. My blood ran cold, knowing the worst was all too likely.

 _Oh shit! That kid couldn't have actually..._

"Espurr!" I hissed, shifting around to face her abruptly.

"What's up?" she replied tensely.

"You don't think...?"

She didn't respond, instead meeting my troubled gaze with her own.

"We have to go do something! The sheriffs aren't stationed anywhere near the village, and it'll take them too long to respond!" I pleaded.

"Well... I don't think-," she nervously replied. "Don't you think it's best if an adult does this?"

"What?" I said, shocked she wouldn't want to help right away. "No, we don't have time for that! Simipour and Farfetch'd are away today, and there's no way anyone in the village is going to Nectar Meadow at this time of year."

"Sage, I get it, but-"

I ignored her, raising my voice above the commotion Deerling and Pancham were making.

"Guys!" I shouted, getting their attention. "Hold on! I think I know where Budew went!"

"Wait, really?" a surprised Deerling said. "Where?"

"Nectar Meadows." I gulped.

Another collective gasp from everyone. Before I could elaborate, however, Pancham spoke up.

"You can't fool me, Sage." he snided.

"... _What_?" I snarled.

There was no way he was doing this right now.

"After your lies from yesterday, you really think we'll believe that you just happen to know where Budew is? This is a serious matter, Sage! You shouldn't be lying in a time like this."

"Whew, that was a close one!" Shelmet signed in relief. "He probably wanted to lead some pour soul to the meadow with him and put them in danger! But not us, we're smarter than that."

Not even bothering to restrain myself, I sprang up from my chair, knocking it backwards in the process. "Are you _kidding_ me?" I hissed at him, praying for patience. "Why would I possibly lie about this?"

If there weren't such pressing matters upon us all at the moment, I might have attacked them both right there. This really wasn't going the way I had hoped it would. It was just another replay of yesterday's extravaganza.

"All you've done is seek attention since you've gotten here," Pancham coolly responded. "If you aren't lying, then where's your proof?"

"Proof or it didn't happen!" Shelmet echoed.

I wasn't sure what to say. They had a point; I truly had no proof. But if only they had been there yesterday!

"Am I wrong guys?" the panda asked the rest of the class. I looked around, seeking support. To my dismay, I got none.

Everyone but Shelmet and Pancham had an uncomfortable look on their face, like they wanted to believe me but couldn't bring themselves to. Perhaps some of them did believe me but were just too scared to go. Espurr just looked at me with sadness, her expression speaking for her.

 _'What if she's not there? It's too dangerous. It's not worth it.'_ is what her eyes told me. She didn't need to say it out loud for me to get the message.

I was all alone.

Betrayal nipped at my conscience as I tried to conjure a response. I knew it was hopeless; there was nothing I could say to sway them. Their minds were made up just like that, and all because Pancham stupidly assumed I was lying. I was at my wit's end.

"Fine," I spat. "I'll go myself."

Yet another gasp rang through the class. I expected as much.

"What?!" Deerling cried.

Espurr looked absolutely horrified, recalling my comment about type matchup the day before. "Sage, you can't-"

I drowned them out. The sting of isolation finally hit me, and I resented them all for it as I dashed out of the gate alone. I didn't need to look back to know that nobody was coming with me.


	11. Antidote

Chapter 11 - Antidote

 _No way am I letting this go._

Trees were passed by in a blur. I raced through the early stages of the dungeon with little regard for my surroundings, fearing the worst for Budew. The few bug-types I had already encountered had tired me quite a bit, but the abundance of berries and apples scattered around was enough to keep me going at an effective speed. Nectar Meadow held quite a few edgy Pokemon in it, but I didn't encounter anything horrific like Lombre had vaguely described the day before.

This changed when I reached the flowers. A massive range stretched itself from end to end of my peripherals, stock full of beautiful flowers of a rainbow of colors (I would have to come back here sometime when there wasn't a crisis at stake). Combee and Beedrill skimmed low to the ground, producing their honey at a momentous rate. Although they had not detected me yet as I observed them from a nearby treeline, their busy activity generated a heavy tension in the atmosphere.

Gathering a deep breath and a burst of courage, I left the treeline behind me and dove into the field. Skirting around, high patches of flowers were utilized to move in closer, for a frontal assault would surely spell death in such an environment. More than once did my heart nearly burst from dread as a Combee would conduct its business with the patch of flowers I was hiding under, forcing me to freeze and pray it didn't notice me. It was a slow process, and I was very nearly seen a number of times. If not for the green and yellow coloring of my scales paired with my slim body frame, I wouldn't have stood a chance going unnoticed. I could surely take a few of the bees on by myself, but an entire colony? No, fighting the entire meadow at once was out of the question. That would've been suicidal.

I finally located Budew in the middle of the giant field, and my heart sank when I saw what hovered before her: two huge Beedrill and about a dozen Combee at their flank. None of them appeared welcoming.

I could faintly make out bits of the conversation from my hiding spot. I wanted to get closer, but there was no cover between Budew's location and mine. I was at least thirty meters away, much too far to protect Budew from a sudden assault without any ranged attacks to cover her escape. The only optimism I could muster was that we were far enough away from where most of the colony was where a fight most likely wouldn't cause a chain reaction. The situation was bleak, but it was still mendable.

Other than this revelation, it seemed the remaining elements were stacked against me. What was I supposed to do now, exactly? Ever since I had ditched class I had been on the move: through the plaza and past the gate, down the path leading to the meadow, through the dungeon with speed in mind and efficiency out the window, and finally through the field of yellow and green that camouflaged me and carried me this far. Now I sat, covered by a few tall flowers, adrenaline withdrawn and mind empty of ideas. Heavy lactic acid filled my legs as anxiousness filled my gut. Even in this secluded space, fighting them simply wasn't an option; I'd get crushed by the type disadvantage, lack of numbers, and lack of experience all working together against me. Oh, how could I pull this off?

I was still a bit unfamiliar with the mechanics of this world, but it didn't take a native to comprehend the lucid equation. I'd like to have thought that my decision to chase after Budew alone was rash, but I knew that wasn't true. If I didn't arrive as soon as possible, Budew might not have lasted. But still... I could've at least tried to argue my classmates further, right? Right now would've been the ideal time to have Espurr's tactful prowess. Or maybe Deerling's bold antics. Even a bit of Leah's fire...

I shook my head in disgust. My classmates weren't here, and thus they weren't relevant. I couldn't depend on them for help if they weren't going to believe what I said in a time of need. I could do nothing more than hope for an opening for myself, preferably some sort of distraction. I would do this on my own and they were going to be sorry they doubted me. Having patience was what I had to settle for.

"I-I'd like some honey," I heard Budew plead nervously with the bees.

"Whaaat?" the Beedrill buzzed in surprise. "Are you some kind of honey thief?"

"No, I w-would never-"

"Seize her! The queen will decide her fate!" the Beedrill shrieked.

 _So much for being patient!_

By virtue of Budew's natural quickness and small size, she narrowly managed to avoid the volley of stingers for long enough to allow for my hastened entry. I ran the length of the expanse at the fastest pace I could muster and brought a whip slicing down onto one of the pursuing Beedrill's head. Budew, realizing her opportunity, made her escape into the cover of the flowers.

I turned to leave after her, but my path was blocked by the second Beedrill, directing its focus onto me now.

"Intruder!" it screeched.

I had no chance of dodging the attack, and the poison jab hit me squarely in the abdomen. My vision flashed white, the pain of the initial blow absolutely overwhelming me. I barely noticed my own tail knocking the Beedrill away in desperation before stumbling to the ground, fighting to keep myself from losing my breakfast. Without time to buy or look for pecha berries ealier, I knew right away I was doomed from the poison inflicted with the attack.

One of the Beedrill shot a string shot at me, and I was wrapped up in the speed-lowering substance. The two of them approached to finish off their prey.

 _Is this the end? Did I really just get myself killed?_

I was so enveloped in surviving the onslaught that I hardly had the mind to notice the unexplainable event that happened next. I quickly untangled the string and shrugged it off of me, finding that the attack didn't really adhere to my body well. Still, I expected my movement to be hindered by the sticky substance that remained from the speed-lowering attack.

But it wasn't. I actually felt faster. How could a move that slows you down make you _faster_? I wished I had time to consider how odd it was.

The Beedrill approached me and I whipped it with a vine, my newfound speed taking both of us by surprise. A surge of confidence swelled through me as I engaged in a close-quarters battle with the two Beedrill, able to narrowly evade their fierce spikes every time.

I might've beaten them right there if they weren't accompanied by so many Combee. The tiny bee Pokemon swarmed me, biting me and ramming into me, knocking me off balance enough for the two Beedrill to knock me in the dirt with two more venom-laced jabs of their massive stingers, leaving two heavy incisions on my thigh. The pain that enveloped every sense of being was nothing I had ever imagined possible. As if the physical assault wasn't enough to threaten my life, the poison was what really stood out as the deciding factor in the approaching defeat. Winning was simply not a question anymore; the only thing still up in the air was whether it would be the pain or the poison that cast aside consciousness for the last time.

I attempted unsuccessfully to collect myself when I caught sight of the two Beedrill charging me again, several Combee alongside them. I sloppily whipped my vines around in an attempt to wrap up one of the Beedrill's arms and prevent it from stabbing me. I missed my target miserably, and a sense of imminent defeat finally struck down any illusion of optimism that I might've had left in me. The stingers thrusted into me repeatedly and without mercy, distributing a combination of powerful blows that left bloody lacerations all over my midsection. Some of the Combee took advantage of my vulnerability and followed the Beedrill's fury attack up with a flurry of bug bite attacks, tearing up the bag Nuzleaf brought me back from his business trip and opening a particularly nasty cut right above my eye.

It was too much. I was sapped of all strength, all will to continue. I glanced up with my eyes, unable to shift my head, and saw with fading vision the approaching bees dealing a finishing volley.

I was in so much pain that I at first wasn't sure if what happened next was a vivid illusion or a true miracle. It was only when I felt the heat of the flames that the unthinkable was confirmed.

Of course, it had to be her.

Our eyes met, and she nodded at me. I felt myself try to acknowledge it, but I wasn't sure if my body allowed me to or not. But it didn't matter: cold water and colder words aside, she was here. It appeared that I wasn't as alone as I thought.

The Combee took a hint and scattered upon Leah's first ember attack, with no preference to fight against fire. The Beedrill were not so timid, and skirted the air with evasive intentions. Leah took aim and launched more flames into the air, hitting them every now and then as they tried to get a good angle on her.

Underneath the painful state I was in, I was delighted. She was here, and she was actually winning. It was only until I realized what the Beedrill were plotting that my enthusiasm shifted abruptly into horror.

"Leah, it's a tr-"

I tried to warn her, but it was too late! One of the Beedrill approached her at a high speed, evidently gaining the angle it had been searching for. She took the bait and blasted it critically with fire, leaving her flank totally vulnerable to the other Beedrill's rapid approach. The two poison-types executed their sacrificial strategy perfectly, and I watched helplessly as Leah was stabbed in the side by an unavoidable poison jab. Critical hit.

She yelped in agony, the force of the attack carrying her off the ground and rolling her to a stop a few feet beside me. She was bleeding profusely from her wound, and couldn't seem to get up.

We had lost.

The remaining Beedrill slowly approached us alone, his partner now lying charred in the grass. The hopelessness I felt was indescribable. The dread of imminent death was one that would keep you awake at night, not that it appeared I would have any more nights left to begin with. Leah's presence only doubled the dread... she would die too, and it would be my fault. At the very least, I could be satisfied knowing that Budew was saved.

I'd heard Simipour once say that "what goes around comes around", and in the following moments I was convinced that karma was on my side. I typically considered myself a realistic guy, so asking for two miracles in one day was out of my range. Regardless, I certainly wasn't complaining about what happened next.

The Beedrill was enveloped in a green beam of blinding light that filled my entire vision. When the brightness faded, the Beedrill was lying on the ground well away from us, unmoving. I turned my head to my right and saw the green Pokemon I came here to save in a battle stance, legs apart, the bud on her head twisted open.

Budew had just used solarbeam.

* * *

Leah and I laid a few feet apart in silence.

Fortunately, I had a small roll of gauze I bought a couple days ago that survived the bug bite attack on my bag, which I used to patch up the worst of our wounds. Budew left to fetch us some pecha berries and oran berries, leaving us alone together. I wasn't sure what to say, and it occurred to me that it probably seemed awkward that I wasn't saying anything. She was the one who rescued me, after all, so the least I could do was talk to her, right? I felt so nervous about apologizing for everything that I couldn't muster the courage to do it right away, so I settled with something else that had definitely caught my interest.

"So..." I started, getting her attention. "Budew can apparently use..."

"...Solarbeam...?" she finished for me with equal curiosity.

We both stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting into hysterical laughter. It hurt my chest to even speak, let alone roll around on the ground giggling like an idiot, but it was a gesture condensed into such bliss that I didn't mind the aching. After a few more moments of enjoying the concept of little Budew using such a stupidly-powerful attack, we settled back into stillness. This time, it would be her that broke it.

"If it means anything, a wimp would never have done what you did."

After what happened in the forest, I had determined myself to not forgive Leah. I was convinced she was my enemy, and I had childishly envisioned myself rejecting her words in a situation such as this. These thoughts were now a tidbit of the past, throughly erased from my head. I guess having your life saved does that to you.

"If it means anything, someone weak could've never saved my stupid ass like you did."

I minced part of it, and my mumbling enhanced by the lingering pain from he poison probably made it sound ridiculous and incoherent. But it made her smile, so I couldn't help but be content with my apologetic confession.

"I'm sorry for getting you wet," she said, dropping her smile to the floor along with her gaze. "I'd tell you about how they tricked me into it, but in the end I was the one who made the decision, and... I really am sorry." she murmured, suddenly sounding nervous.

"Don't be," I said, giving her a genuine look. "In hindsight, I kind of deserved it."

 _Okay... my turn to apologize..._

"I'm sorry for everything I said. I need to learn to control myself better." I said, trying desperately not to let my voice crack. "I may not know you all that well, but I really mean it. You're not a bad Pokemon Leah. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise."

She wanted to speak, but she was too choked up to say anything, so she decided to settle for something else. She swiftly pulled me into an embrace, catching me off guard and making my battered midsection temporarily spike with pain. I ignored it, hugging her back. This moment was too sentimental for a bit of crippling poison to throw us off.

"Hey, I got some-" young Budew's voice was cut off when she saw us hugging. "Uh, heh, am I interrupting something?"

Leah hastily let go of me. "N-No, you're... D-Did you get some berries?"

Budew produced several pink and blue berries she had picked from the meadow. She also carried a jar filled to the brim with fresh honey.

"Where did you get that honey?" I asked with wide eyes.

"I ran into a really pretty bee queen while I was getting these berries. She heard about my mama and got real sad about it. She told all the mean bees to leave us alone and then gave me two jars of honey!"

I paled at the thought of Budew running into more of the bees. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to let her run off into the meadow alone, even if Leah and I were immobile and deteriorating from exhaustion and poison. But with the scavenger's feast before us, I forgot about it soon enough. The cold fluid of the pecha berries washed away the venom coursing through our circulatory systems. The oran berries did their part as well, numbing the pain and returning strength to our strained limbs and minds.

"I only needed one jar of honey for my mom..." Budew said after we devoured the natural remedies she provided us. "So you two can have the other jar as thanks for saving me!"

"Technically we all saved each other," I said, my voice no longer hurting my insides as badly as before. "I saved you, then Leah saved me, and then you saved both of us... Funny how that works."

"That's what friends do for each other," Leah gleefully replied.

It felt good to see the color return to her face now that the poison no longer clawed at her throat. I imagined my condition had improved in a similar fashion. Our injuries unarguably warranted a few days of rest, but the worst of it was cured thanks to Budew. We were going to be just fine.

As Leah and I shared the jar of honey, I reflected on the day's events. It was an overall rough time and I knew my body would probably be too stiff to move in the morning. But pain and near-death experiences aside, it was all well worth it. No physical healing could rival the satisfaction of forgiveness. It was true that I hadn't known Leah for long, but what mattered was that I understood her situation, and I knew she could be trusted even in this strange new world.

For the time being, I actually felt content with being a Snivy.


	12. Prism of Truth

Chapter 12 - Prism of Truth

"Oh- Budew! I was so worried!"

Leah and I had trudged home with the rescued child as the sun dipped below the mountains. By the time we reached the village, it was already dark. I spotted Roselia up on the hill with the tree, staring at the night sky. Even from a distance it had been clear she was distressed.

Now we stood before her as she embraced Budew, who then presented the honey to her. After thanking us profusely, she led her child back down to the village. Leah and I stayed up on the hill, admiring the stars illuminating the sky.

"Sage?" she said after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"I believe it."

"Believe what?"

"That you were a human."

I turned my head in surprise. After everyone cast aside my claim the day before, I had assumed that nobody took me seriously. This was only further supported by the fact that I had gone to Nectar Meadows alone...

But no, that wasn't right at all. Because Leah came after me. She really did believe me, even when no one else did.

"Why?" I asked her. She was silent for a moment, choosing her words.

"Because... I know exactly how you feel."

Espurr's words from a few days ago echoed in my head.

 _"...The closest thing Leah has to a friend besides you is Kanghaskan at the Cafe, and that's only because she interacts with so many people..."_

 _"...You two must've really come together to beat Gabite. I wouldn't like to think some silly words would totally isolate two people after that..."_

Espurr had been right. Leah knew what it felt like to have nobody believe in her. It was a loneliness she had taken for granted, imbedding itself into the background of her everyday life.

And then there was me. Dropped in an unfamiliar world without purpose or direction. Nothing to my name but an impossible story. Of course nobody believed me. It was a bit odd that Nuzleaf believed me so readily, but it was likely that even he had really just written it off as a child's story conjured from the depths of imagination.

Yes, Leah knew exactly how I felt. Even if her peers meant no harm to her, she experienced this mistreatment every day. Why else would she have resorted to helping Pancham and Shelmet with their sabotage in the forest a few days ago? She was desperate for unity. Desperate for community. She just found it in the wrong place, that was all.

We both had more in common than I realized.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's the human world like?" she inquired, snapping me out of my thoughts. A look of eager curiosity was displayed on her face, and her head tilted to the side with expectancy.

"I... I don't know," I stammered, disappointed I couldn't pique her curiosity. "I can't remember anything about it. It's hard to explain... like, I remember what food is and what family is and all that, but I can't recall any specifics, like the individuals who I knew and what my life was like. The only thing I remember is the fact that I'm a human in the first place."

"So you can only remember the past week or so? That's all you've ever known?" Leah resounded. She looked even more dumbfounded than she was upon hearing I was actually a human in the first place.

"Look, I know it sounds..."

"No, I believe you," she quickly interrupted. "It's just... I mean... You must feel very..." She paused to find the right word.

"Lost?" I supplied for her. "Confused?"

"...Alone?" she said, looking up at me.

I knew that shouldn't be accurate. I couldn't remember who I was before, so I couldn't really miss anyone. For all I know, I might not have even had anyone to miss. As sad and unlikely as it sounded, the possibility was wide open.

But... she was right. She nailed it right on the head, actually. I had felt truly alone in this world. I had friends like Espurr and Goomy and Deerling, but the limits of their accountability had already revealed its colors and it had hardly been a week. I felt utterly isolated dashing through Nectar Meadow, all the way until I saw that abrupt ball of fire rain down on the Beedrill. Only then did I realize I wasn't alone anymore.

"Alright!" Leah loudly piped.

"What's up?" I asked, a little taken back by her sudden outburst of enthusiasm.

"I want you... to be my friend!"

 _Woah, what? I guess I'll give her points for bluntness._

"Nobody believes a word you have to say right now Sage!" she continued.

 _Straight up, no punches pulled there._

"But... I get it. I know how it feels to be alone too. But if you have even one friend who truly believes in you, you'll be really happy..."

She cleared her throat nervously. "...So as fellow social outliers, I-I thought it would be best if we started by believing in each other as friends."

She was fidgeting in place. It wasn't hard to figure out that it took a lot of willpower on her part to follow through with those words, simple as the request was. It made a bit of sense for her to worry: our little spat had been pretty nasty, and she hadn't helped her case with the incident in the woods the following day.

Not that I cared anymore. I wouldn't be standing here if not for her. I'd take a quick dive in a stream any day over getting mauled to death.

I regarded her question with a moment of silent thought, before inquiring further: "You mean like partners?"

"Yeah, like... partners," she tried out the words, let them balance on her tongue, and seemed content with the terminology. "I... know it sounds really cheesy, but I think we could accomplish a lot together."

"Accomplish enough to make it to the Expedition Society?" I offered, making her smile and dissolving some of the apprehension that had overwhelmed her expression. While I said it, I couldn't hide a smile of my own.

She pretended to think for a moment, as though she needed anything to consider. "Yeah... I'd like that."

"Then of course I'll be your partner. And your friend," I told her. "I promise."

"You will? Yesss!" she exclaimed.

I stuck my vine out to her, and she looked at me funny. I facepalmed.

"My arms aren't long enough to shake on it, dummy. Remember when we first met?" I said.

"Oh! Well so-r-r-y," she huffed in good spirit, every syllable exaggerated. "I don't shake paws with grass types every day." She grasped the vine and shook it firmly, much more genuinely than the awkward yank from the time she popped out of a bush.

"To mark this occasion, I've got just the thing," she said.

"You don't mean alcohol, do you?" I asked.

"Alcohol? What's th-"

"Never mind." I interrupted. To be honest, I wasn't sure much about it myself; I just recalled that it was some celebratory human drink that you weren't supposed to drink too much of.

"You'll have to close your eyes."

"Wait, why?" I asked, confused.

"Just do it, you'll be impressed," she replied with a smirk.

I shut my eyes while I distinctly identified the sound of paws rummaging through a bag. Then I felt the sensation of something soft being wrapped around my neck. After she was done fastening something together at the back, I raised my eyelids.

I was wearing a scarf. It was so unnaturally soft and lightweight that I was fairly certain it wasn't just made of common material. It sported a myriad of green shades, striped and designed to look, in my opinion, quite fashionable. I reveled at how it complimented my own exterior coloration. What also amazed me about the scarf right away was the feeling it gave me as soon as I put it on. I felt instantly saturated, almost as if the universe was literally feeding me energy. It was faint, and also kind of weird, but it was undoubtedly pleasant. I looked at Leah's excited expression and noticed that she, too, had put on a scarf identical to one she had given me.

"So, do you like it?" she asked with a wink and a pose, showing off the contrast of green on her yellow muzzle.

"What is this material? It feels incredible!" I asked with a pitch of amazement.

"I have no idea!" she said. "My old pops found me all wrapped up in these when I was a baby, so I've always held onto them."

So it was confirmed that Leah's pops isn't her actual dad... I was pretty sure he wasn't anyway, considering I never thought it would even be possible for a big and bulky water turtle to produce a fire-breathing fox. But you never know, right? This world has proven to be pretty weird already.

"Well, in any case, I love it. I'll take good care of it," I told her.

She laughed and then shrugged. "As long as you don't lose it, you have nothing to worry about. I accidentally blasted them with fire once and they were completely unscathed. They're basically indestructible, at least as far as I've observed."

"How mysterious," I mused. I'd better not lose this thing, it's probably ultra valuable even without the sentiment that we were attaching to it on the hill tonight. If I did lose it, Leah would probably cook me alive, and for good reason.

"Yeah. Maybe we'll find out about it one day." she said as she picked up a little twig that fell out of the tree above and started... nibbling on it?

"Uhh," I snorted, trying to stifle a wave of laughter. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

She stopped chewing and looked at me with confusion, the little stick hanging out of her mouth diagonally. At that sight I couldn't hold it in anymore, and I burst into a hysterical fit.

"What!" she exclaimed, her face turning a flustered shade of red. "It's tasty!"

I laughed for a few more seconds before partially collecting myself, still unable to stop the occasional giggle. "How can a stick be tasty?"

"I'm a Fennekin, smartass! Although, I guess you wouldn't know that my species enjoys chewing on twigs since you're still pretty new to this world."

I nodded, still smiling at the thought of Leah eating a tree. I'd have liked to tease her more about it, but she'd probably find something super embarrassing about my species to roast me about, so I held my tongue. I could tell that, despite the embarrassment Leah expressed, that she actually enjoyed being able to tease and be teased with someone. She was right, it only took one person who you were friends with to make you happy. It was showing already.

"Oh shoot. It's actually gotten really late..." she remarked with a realizing glance at the darkened sky. "We really made use of our time today, huh?"

"We did. I just hope our respective adopted parents aren't mad." I responded wishfully.

"Oh shit!" she cursed harshly, beginning to pace around. "What if they found out we dipped out of class! We're so screwed!"

 _Oh shit, indeed. I didn't anticipate that, but it could very well be true._

"Not much we can do, I suppose."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said. "We'd best head back now before they get mad regardless."

I nodded, and we both walked down the hill and back to our houses.

When I walked in, Nuzleaf was rather indifferent to my late arrival. He was, however, alarmed at the sight of my injuries.

"What in tarnation happened to you, kiddo?" he quizzed with wide eyes, nearly dropping the cup of juice in his hands. "You look like you got trampled by a horde o' Tauros!"

"I'm fine. Me and Leah just ran into some trouble exploring a dungeon, that's all." My efforts to downplay my injuries seemed to work, as Nuzleaf simply shrugged and told me to be more careful. I was delighted to learn that he wasn't already aware that I had run out in the middle of class, which would have surely warranted some kind of chastisement. Plus, that meant Leah would escape scolding as well, at least for tonight, which coming from her pops would have been much worse than from the lax-natured Nuzleaf.

Now, all my partner and I had to worry about was the school's reaction to what we did. I definitely had no regrets; going after Budew at that moment was the right thing to do, and it paid off. But would the school see it the same way? Or would they just see it as the village troublemaker and her partner-in-crime playing hookie? It pissed me off to think that Leah might have to endure even more undeserved ridicule for having more heart than anyone else in the class did, but there was nothing I could do about it. We'd just have to wait and see.

I sat my new scarf on my bedside. I gave it a good long stare, reminiscing over what it now symbolized. I may not have known who I had once been or why I was here, but I had a friend, and right then that's all that mattered.

The stress of the day had totally drained me, so it only took a few moments lying in my bed to fall into a deep slumber. I relished in the incoming sleep, and let it drown out my worries and my aches.

* * *

The next morning, I was enveloped with a stiffness I had just about become used to waking up to. My body had become accustomed to the everyday dungeon exploring and my muscles were cooperating more and more with my new way of life. Unfortunately, this time it wasn't my sore muscles I had to worry about. The area above my eye where I had been bitten was swollen, and a nasty bruise had formed on my hip where I had been hit by that first poison jab. The little wounds I had received all over my body had scabbed over, but some of the pain remained. I reminded myself to get them checked out by Audino after school.

I shakily got up and grabbed my scarf, putting it on and letting the relaxing essence it gave off rejuvenate me a bit. After taking a few moments to stretch my limbs and get my blood running, I walked into the other room where Nuzleaf was waiting.

"Howdy Sage!" he called. "I meant to ask you last night where you picked up that spiffy scarf."

"Leah gave it to me. She's got a matching one." I replied.

"Well, that was mighty nice of her." he said, rubbing his chin. "I might just hafta get one for myself, I reckon."

"You should," I agreed. "Although, I have no idea what it's made of. It seems like some kind of ultra-fine thread."

I waved goodbye to Nuzleaf and exited the house. I didn't even get two feet out the door before I was greeted with an all-too-familiar bundle of orange and yellow fur, popping out of a bush at me.

"Surprise!" the ball of fur yelled as I narrowly dodged being pounced on.

"E-Easy there Leah!" I protested. "I'm still a mess from yesterday, remember?"

"Oh, right, sorry..." she murmured a little guiltily. "My side hurts from where I got hit too, but I guess I wasn't really thinking about it."

I glanced at the spot where the Beedrill had dealt a critical hit to her exposed flank, and winced. Although the poison was out of her system thanks to the pecha berries and medicine, the impact had left her with a tiny impaction that had just begun to scab over. It was surrounded by a circular blue bruise, and it looked painful and obvious. It definitely looked worse than any of my own individual wounds. I felt a wave of guilt wash over me that I was the reason she got hurt.

"That looks... painful," I uneasily commented.

"Its no biggie. It's just nagging me a bit, that's all," she responded a little shyly. "We ought to head to class now. It should be starting before long."

I nodded and followed her into the plaza, where we observed an odd scene play out before us. A tall yellow Pokemon, visibly electric type, with black striped ears and a red bulb on his tail and forehead, was literally stumbling into the side of the cafe. Maybe this world had alcohol after all?

"Hey, uh, you alright?" Leah asked him as the fool tried to get his bearings.

"Absolutely wonderful! No worries, happens all the time. I have the worst sense of direction, unfortunately." Once he got his head on straight, he briefly evaluated the two of us. "Do you children live in this quaint village?"

"Yeah. I'm Leah, and this is Sage."

"Oh! Nice to meet you, how precious you two are!" he cheered. "But, silly me, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Ampharos, known throughout the land as-"

The clumsy Pokemon struck a flamboyant pose, making Leah and I jump back in surprise.

"The Dashing Wonderer!"

 _If Leah and I become famous explorers, I hope to god we don't get nicknames as ridiculous as 'The Dashing Wonderer'._

"Uh... nice to meet you, sir." I awkwardly replied.

"Likewise, my dear boy!" he said enthusiastically. "But I must be off now on some errands I must fulfill. I enjoyed meeting you two!" With that, he stumbled away, knocking into things as he went along.

"That's weird," Leah said, tilting her head. "We don't get hardly any traffic around here. Pops says we used to back in his day as a youth, but that was before Revelation Mountain was sealed away from the public."

"Maybe he was a traveler?" I suggested. "He called himself a 'dashing wonderer' after all. Perhaps he's associated with the Exploration Society."

My partner rubbed her chin and considered the thought. "Well, from my limited research I know there's a Pokemon like that guy that is associated with the Society, but there's no way that clumsy fool was him. Plus, if he was a part of the Society, he'd have a rescue badge. That guy didn't ha- oh! What's that on the ground?"

Leah pointed toward a shiny blue spherical object sitting in the dirt a few yards away. "That Ampharos must've dropped it when he was walking into a wall!" she concluded.

"We can give it back to him after class," I told her. "We'd better not be late after what happened yesterday."

"Oh..." Leah mumbled at this, remembering the bad timing of our emergency trip to Nectar Meadow. "We totally ditched class didn't we?"

"Yeah, unfortunately that's what we had to do to save Budew... I guess we'll just have to endure whatever punishment they dish out."

"I have an idea," she enthusiastically proposed, an imaginary lightbulb going off above her head. "How about we just not go to school at all! That way, we can't get punished!"

I stared at her. She stared back. This went on for a few seconds before she got the message.

"No go, huh?" she sighed, a bit crestfallen at the dim outlook on the situation. "Yeah, I didn't think so either."

I shook my head. "Trust me, I don't want to go either. I'm pissed at the rest of the class for leaving us out to dry like they did, and I'm already unimpressed with the likes of Watchog and Farfetch'd, but the only thing we can do is deal with it. If they can't see that saving Budew was the right course of action at that time, then we'll just have to let them be blind to righteousness."

"I suppose," she mumbled. "But ugh! This is gonna _suck_!"

"But it won't suck alone," I added with a little smile in her direction.

"That's true," she replied, returning the grin wholeheartedly.

We walked the length of the school path, jogging a bit to make up for the lost time spent conversing with the strange traveler minutes before. Even at a moderately hurried pace, however, it was hard not to appreciate the emerald treetops at both of our flanks bleeding into the sapphire shade of the sky above. Only a handful of clouds blew into the valley airspace and made themselves visible, and a comforting wind coursed past the two of us and nudged us forward. It was such a perfect day following the climax of yesterday - too perfect to be stressing about something like obedience.

But alas, we would be forced to face our challenges as they came, and Leah all but tackled me behind one of the large rocks by the entrance of the school in order to escape being immediately seen. At the front gate was our esteemed vice principal, no doubt waiting on us to arrive so he could have at us. I expected nothing less.

"Yeah, we're screwed," Leah sharply whispered. "He's not even gonna wait until class starts. He's just waiting to chew us out at the front gate!"

"I know, but we're about to be late for class..." I sighed. "That'll just make it worse. We have to take the lashing right now, it seems."

She huffed in discontent, but didn't argue. Just as we were about to walk out, I heard a familiar voice in my head.

 _"Sage, wait."_

I froze.

 _"Just hold on a moment."_

I stopped Leah from walking out, and we watched for a few seconds. Out of nowhere, Watchog started... dancing. Well, not quite dancing, but more like skipping around with a look of glee on his face. It was ridiculous, and very difficult not to giggle at.

"Oh-! I think Espurr is helping us!" I whispered.

"What- what's wrong with him?" Leah wondered aloud, the breaks of a giggle evident in her voice as she tried to hold it in for the sake of covertness. "Hah- did she give him an extra chromosome or something?"

Espurr's voice echoed in my head again.

 _"Okay, now go through the gate while he's distracted."_

"Let's go!" I motioned.

We dashed through the gate as quickly as we could, and Watchog hadn't the slightest clue that we moved right past him. We scrambled over to our seats right as the bell rang, snapping him out of his little dance. He walked up to the front.

"Alright class, I know we're missing a few members, but-" He stopped dead in his tracks. Sitting in the front row were the two kids he had been waiting at the front gate for, sitting neatly in their chairs and staring expectantly at him. Seeing his reaction was so amusing that it was difficult not to break our immaculate posture.

"What...! How did you-"

"How did we what, vice principal?" Leah said innocently.

"...Never mind," he mumbled irritably, clearing his throat. "But before we begin class, I daresay I have a few words to share with you two delinquents!" His voice had risen an octave and boomed through the schoolyard. Here comes the scolding...

He cleared his throat again, and began his tongue-lashing. "You two problem children are so problematically problematic that your problems are-"

"-Hold on, vice principal," a soft voice called over the classroom, ending the rant as soon as it began. Behind the voice was principal Simipour, standing at the foot of the stairs leading to the staff buildings.

"Ms. Roselia came by and told me all about what happened yesterday," he informed us, making Leah and I sigh in relief. "She described how the pair of you rescued her lost child, even at the cost of your own well-being. You did so while also risking getting into trouble with the school for skipping your classes. For that, I commend you for being brave young Pokemon."

He cleared his throat, and continued. "While it is not okay to skip class unannounced, you two have displayed bravery and righteousness that I believe justify your actions."

Leah's eyes sparkled. "So you mean...?"

"Yes," Simipour decreed. "You will receive no punishment. It seems you've already exhausted yourselves for the sake of that child to begin with, so it would be absurd to stress you further with all that you have been through the past day, risking your lives for the greater good. Now, have a wonderful day kids!" With that, he walked back up the stairs and into his office. Watchog was absolutely aghast, grumbling something under his breath about 'not getting paid enough'.

After a few moments, the vice principal collected himself and half-heartedly turned his attention to the class. "I... suppose we should begin first period." he said, grabbing a story book we'd already read like four times this year.

The day rolled by quickly. A couple of times Deerling and Goomy tried whispering to me during the lesson, but I ignored them. Did they think I had just forgotten about yesterday? Our usual third period that consisted of a field exercise was replaced today with recess time. Leah and I, starting to feel weary from exerting ourselves all day yesterday, elected to sit at our desks and rest our heads.

"Hey Sage!" I heard Goomy call.

 _Oh great._

After I ignored him, Deerling called to me as well. Next thing Leah and I knew, we were surrounded by the whole class.

"Not now guys..." Leah mumbled, putting her head down on her desk.

"Hey, listen..." Deerling gently spoke. "We wanted to congratulate you two for what you did yesterday..."

My thought halted in place when the world 'congratulate' registered, and a heat overcame my limbs that easily canceled out the breeze. They- they actually thought they could just _congratulate_ us? Had they forgotten the betrayal only twenty-four hours ago? Did they realize how close Leah and I were to an untimely death?

Oh no, I wasn't having it.

"No thanks to you," I spat, looking up at her and narrowing my eyes.

Their approach was so naive; clearly that was not the response any of them had expected. Deerling recoiled, visibly hurt by the cold-blooded answer, while Espurr frowned and merely stared at the ground. Goomy's mouth was slightly hanging open, before he too locked his eyes onto the grass. Even Pancham and Shelmet looked shocked.

I half-expected Leah to try and reconcile me with my classmates, as she hadn't seemed like the type to advocate conflict unless it involved defending herself. Instead, however, I noticed she displayed a cold demeanor similar to mine. It wasn't as frigid and deep as the animosity I carried, but she made certain her own displeasure was externally obvious. I assumed she must've had an argument with the class about my exit before running after me on her own. Whether she did or not didn't matter much anyway; her history with these kids wasn't too extravagant to begin with. At this point she owed them nothing.

Espurr spoke up, raising her gaze and meeting mine. "Look, Sage, we- we didn't-"

"Save it, okay?" I interrupted, breaking eye contact as quickly as it was established to stare back down at my desk. "...Look, I appreciate you getting us through the gate this morning, but that _hardly_ covers for leaving me out to dry. I had the initiative to save a child in peril, and- and _where were you?_ "

My voice rose a decibel with each breath. I was caught somewhere between disinterested monotone and an outright explosion now, not even caring that I might get in trouble with Watchog for instigating a conflict. Luckily, he was preoccupied at the moment and out of earshot.

I took another look at Espurr, and a fiery realization dawned within me and compounded my rage further. "A-And you!" I shoved a vine in Espurr's face, singling her out. "You _knew_ Budew was there, and you didn't do a thing! Where was your psychic power when we were getting mobbed by poisonous insects? Or your verbal support when I was begging the rest of the class for assistance?" I made sure the worst of my wounds were visible to emphasize my point. Some of them, like the swollen cut above my eye, already spoke for themselves.

Espurr was as silent as a stone. What could she really say in that situation? She hung her head in shameful silence, unwilling to meet my livid gaze.

"At least she—" I continued with my rant, jabbing my arm in Leah's direction. "—can be counted on, which is something none of you seem to understand. All of you treat her like garbage, and yet she's the only one here who cares! She actually has enough sense not to listen to that blockhead over there!"

This time I was gesturing at Pancham. I honestly expected him to get angry at my comment and want to fight. Part of me was actually hoping for it. I was so fired up at the _nerve_ of these Pokemon that I would've welcomed the challenge in total disregard to my lingering ailments. But to my bewilderment, he hung his head in shame as well. Well... whatever! If he actually felt bad about it, then he could wallow in his own shame. Whatever got my point across worked for me.

Deerling looked as exasperated as the others, but she tried as well as she could to speak softly and steadily. "Sage, we just didn't want anyone to get hurt. You have to understand that, it wasn't the right-"

I scowled. "Wasn't the right what? Moment to act?" I glanced once at Leah, and then back at Deerling before lowering my voice. "Are you really that _useless_?"

Her eyes widened and she lowered her headz Despite the harshness of he comment, a surge of victory welled within me when I said it. That had been her own insult merely a few days ago. Maybe _that_ would wake them up a bit to how unfair they had been.

"If Leah didn't arrive at that moment..." I continued. "I would've been a goner. And because she arrived _without any more help_ , she got hurt too. I know most of you mean well, but that's awfully hard to excuse. So for now, all of you need to just give us some space and get lost."

"L-Look man, I'm sorry!" Pancham suddenly shouted. We all stared at him with raised eyebrows, and his haphazard attempt at a calm expression had no effect in hiding his anxiety. Apologies were clearly not his specialty. "...Okay?" he continued after a moment of awkward silence. "I-It's my bad. You did well saving Budew like you did, a-and... we should've believed you."

If the exchange hadn't gotten me so riled up, part of me might've been touched by that. Pancham was not one who normally would admit his faults straightaway, especially after I called him out specifically and gave the whole class the cold shoulder. I actually felt a little bad about despising the guy when he gave such a genuine apology, even if he had totally screwed me over a day ago.

But not Leah. She, in her own right, didn't have any trouble sidelining Pancham's attempt at owning up to his mistake.

"Yeah?" she snarled as her head snapped up from its resting position. "Well you _didn't_ believe him. So shut up!"

Ouch. There was definitely no love lost between those two - not that I thought they were remotely friends to begin with. Leah's history clashing with Pancham wasn't exactly a secret to anyone, and it was a history that showed no signs of ending soon.

Upon comprehending her interjection, Pancham put on his signature irritated expression he often applied to any interaction with the Fennekin. "Hey, I wasn't talking t-" he started to counter her, before stopping himself short. "...You know what? Forget it," he finally uttered before storming off to his seat.

"You do that," she sneered after him.

The rest of the class solemnly returned to their own seats as the recess time ended. Once the boiling blood in my veins simmered down and lethargy settled in its place, feelings of shame immediately began to arise about the new tension in the air. I knew I probably shouldn't have been as harsh as I was, especially to Espurr, who had just wanted to find a better solution to yesterday's predicament. It was just the fact that Leah was put in danger and sustained injury for my sake that really put me on edge. The class had chosen Pancham over me, and they needed to understand that one cannot just bounce back into somebody's trust bubble right after doing that without a bit of personal redemption. I still hardly even knew most of these people, after all.

...But perhaps I was just being too dramatic? Leah had insisted her wound wasn't even bothering her that bad, so I couldn't really put my finger on what stimulated my outburst. ...Oh, whatever. Things would return to normal soon anyway. Silent treatment for now would have to suffice.

When school ended, Leah and I got a checkup with nurse Audino. She administered the both of us an oran berry mixture and instructed us to drink plenty of fluids like you would expect a doctor to. She procured a sitrus-pecha solution that she prescribed specifically for me, claiming it would stabilize my immune system. When I asked why it was only for me, she pointed at a chart on the wall that displayed type advantages and disadvantages, and I put two and two together. As far as our physical conditions went, she concluded that we were strong enough to continue coming to school and doing our normal activities. Fortunately, all of our injuries were minor and wouldn't last long as long as we didn't reopen them engaging in stunts like exploring dangerous dungeons nearby. She said that as long as we didn't strain ourselves for the next couple of days, we'd be fine.

That was fine by me. I'd had enough of mystery dungeons for a good while. Leah didn't seem like one to tread lightly underneath any circumstances, however, so it wasn't only a matter of time until we would end up in another. At least today our minds were elsewhere as the focus of our attention would soon shift to the crystal ball from before.

"What is that thing?" I asked the Fennekin while walking back to the village, as if she knew the answer. To my surprise, she actually ended up being vaguely familiar with it.

"I'm pretty sure I've seen one of these in Kecleon's storage before..."

"Is it a wonder orb?"

"No, I'm pretty sure this is something else..." she insisted. "It's too refined to be an item used in a dungeon. I think it's more like some kind of machine."

"50 Poké it's just a wonder orb."

"You're on, Smugleaf," she answered, shaking the vine I extended to her.

" _Smugleaf_?" I grimaced. "What the hell is that?"

"It's your new nickname," she replied, wearing a cheeky grin.

I rolled my eyes. "Please don't start calling me that," I pleaded with her, causing her mischievous grin to develop further.

"No promises," she chaffed, sticking her tongue out playfully. "This is what you get for making fun of my twigs."

 _Shit. I knew she'd get me back for that._

"That's fair enough," I finally answered after a few moments of defeated silence. "Anyway, what were you doing in the Kecleon's storage?" The Fennekin gave me a confused look, so I elaborated. "You said you saw one of those crystals in their shop."

Recollection dawned on her face as we walked. "Oh! I used to work for them last summer. I had a lot of free time and not much to do other than go adventuring alone, so I helped them out with gathering items." She tilted her head accusingly. "What, did you think I was in there stealing their stuff or something?"

Oops. That had been precisely what I'd assumed. She had seemed like the kind of individual who took enjoyment from pulling those kinds of pranks on people. What was an adventure with this Fennekin without high stakes?

"Well, it's just... I mean, kinda?"

"Come on, I'm not a thief!" she retorted.

"Hippopotas would tend to disagree," I teased. "Remember my first day?"

She rolled her eyes. " _Vat iz ridiculous,_ " she said while mocking his accent. " _I didn't know it vas his._ " We shared a good laugh at that.

When we reached the plaza, there was hardly anyone out and about at this midday time, most of them likely out working in the fields around the village or out scavenging for resources in local dungeons. The village was small enough to where even a crowded day in the plaza still left plenty of space to have a relatively private conversation there if one pleased, even though the area wasn't all that large to begin with. The Kecleon shop was right next to the path leading to the school, so we were upon our destination as soon as we reached the clearing.

Leah presented the item to the green Kecleon, who began inspecting it with some degree of recognition.

"Haven't seen one of these in a little while..." he mumbled to himself following a brief observation of the device. He turned to us and placed the orb on the table, before motioning towards the back of the little hut that where their inventory was stored. "Let me call my brother over. He's the one who deals with special wares."

The purple Kecleon, previously preoccupied with something in the back, heard himself being beckoned and walked over. He was carrying some sort of green disc, and I asked him what it was.

"This, my dear boy, is a technical machine, often abbreviated as a 'TM'. This disc teaches you a specific move by applying it to your body." he explained.

"What attack does that one teach?" I asked.

"This TM is for leaf storm. Would you be interested in purchasing it for six-thousand Poké?"

I thought about it. I didn't currently have the money anyway; even still, it sounded enticing if not for a particular lesson in school on the setback of the move. "Doesn't leaf storm half your special attack temporarily when you use it? Thanks, but I'd rather not have such an impractical move for that much money. Not that I have much anyway." I decided. "But still, it's pretty cool you can learn moves just from items like that."

A dry, feminine cough from Leah gathered everyone's attention. She whipped out the crystal ball.

"Oh, my!" the purple Kecleon gasped upon seeing it. "Where did you get that?"

"Remember that tall yellow guy?" Leah asked the shopkeepers. They nodded, and the Fennekin placed the ball on the counter where they could pick it up observe it closer. "He dropped it earlier. Didn't you guys used to sell these on rare occasions?"

"This magnificent device is a Connection Orb," he said as he examined its features just as his brother had. "This isn't a ware that anyone can just buy. It's a wonder of technology that allows you to digitally record the nature of your connections with other Pokemon. By connecting with Pokemon, you can link with their connections as well, and it forms a giant network. It's essentially a supercomputer."

"That's quite a mouthful," I said, taken back by all of the information. Most of it just went right over my head.

"What's a super com-pew-ter?" Leah went slowly to get the pronounciarion right. Clearly moat of it went over her head as well.

"Oh, I wouldn't know much about the specifics of that. We're just local merchants who tend to dabble more with the agriculture around here rather than all that technology stuff," the purple gecko answered. "I do recall that organizations on the Water Continent—namely the Expedition Society—store their information with computers. It's the kind of stuff that Serene Village folk still aren't too familiar with."

"So we should probably find Ampharos and give this back to him, then?" I assumed out loud.

"Indeed," Kecleon agreed with a nod. "He'll most definitely want it back. This orb is nowhere in the neighborhood of cheap."

We both nodded and walked away. "Thanks for your help!" I called with a parting wave.

Leah turned to me with a silly grin on her face. I looked at her funny, and she held out a paw. "Alright. Pay up, Smugleaf."

"What...? You were serious about that?"

Her smile grew to the edges of her face and adopted an outrageous shape of innocence. "Yep!"

"Fine, alright," I sighed. I had no plans to spend much of my money anyway.

I slapped 50 Poké into Leah's outstretched paw over-dramatically, making her giggle. Then we walked over to the gate discussing places we might find Ampharos, when we conveniently ran into Carracosta.

"Hey pops!" she called as he passed by.

"Hmm? What are you up to, child?" he said.

"Sir, we were wondering if you happened to see a tall yellow Pokemon with a red orb on his forehead." I said.

He cleared his throat and rubbed his chin. "Well," he grunted. "Now that I think about it, I saw someone a lot like that headed toward Poliwrath River. He looked like he'd had his fair share of chesto brandy, stumbling around like a fool."

 _So this world does have alcohol after all... I wonder if there's an age limit...?_

"Great!" Leah cheered. "Thanks pops!"

Carracosta stared at her for a few seconds before his eyes widened. "Child, you're not actually thinking of going there, are you?"

"Uh, well..." Leah tried to answer.

"Poliwrath River is no place for children!" the turtle boomed. "Especially not for a fire-type who hurt herself clumsily falling on a rock yesterday. I forbid you to go to such a place under any circumstances! Understand?"

 _Fallen on a rock...?_

Oh. Leah must've had to lie to her pops about her wound from Nectar Meadow. By the sound of it, she'd at least been convincing enough.

A defeated Leah sighed at the forbiddance, evidently out of options. "Yes, pops. I understand," she recited, visibly downcast.

Carracosta just nodded and began to walk away. He stopped after a few steps and turned around. "I _mean_ it, child."

"I got it, pops. You don't need to worry about us."

That seemed to satisfy him, and he made his exit.

He was barely even out of the plaza when Leah turned to me and said something preposterous. "So, are you ready to go?"

I deadpanned, and echoed what her Pops had just said. "...You're not _actually_ thinking about going there, are you?"

"Of course I am!" she enthusiastically yelped. "It'll be fun! No one in our class has been there."

"Leah, Audino said that if we wanted to recover, we'd have to chill out with the dungeon exploring for a few days. Plus, by the sound of it, there's going to be heavy water type oppositon." I persuaded... Oh, what did it matter? I could already tell she wasn't going to listen.

"That's why I have you! Onward, my Smugleaf!" she beamed. She snatched my arm in one of her paws and used her other three to bound out the gate with me in tow.

* * *

I knocked away another Barboach with my vines as we waded further through the wet dungeon. "Poliwrath River" is a rather inaccurate name for the whole place; it's really just one big swampland, with an expanse of forest off to one peripheral horizon and foothills sprawled across the other. Leah was staying behind me assisting my offense from a distance where she was safer from water-type attacks. Regardless, she still had some close calls when she decided to be reckless, which happened more often than I'd have preferred.

It was a rocky start getting our chemistry in sync. Sure, we had already tackled Gabite's cave together, but we never had the foresight to learn each other's tendencies then. Now, we had to find a way to make it work as we went. It became apparent to me that Leah had no intention of posing as a role-player even in a place as toxic to her biology as this. By no means was she a weak Pokemon, but her poor judgement of the type disadvantage was occasionally enough to lead to her being overpowered by the constant oppositon. She used up three precious reviver seeds before she finally got the memo and let me handle the bulk of the danger.

The swamp itself didn't stretch too deep before it hit a solid river, which I assumed was the actual Poliwrath River the dungeon was named for. Leah and I were about to head over to the riverbank to search when a trio of bulky, bipedal, and blue figures emerged from of a deep puddle in front of us. Their bellies were white with a black spiral pattern giving it detail. They raised their fists and stood in a boxing stance.

"Who are you?" the one in the middle barked at us.

"Woah, relax," I chimed in, putting my hands up in surrender. "We're just here looking for a tall yellow Pokemon. Have you seen anyone like that?"

"I am not knowing what you are speaking of," the left Poliwrath bellowed. "But that is no matter. You are in our domain, and we do not take kindly to trespassers!"

"Calm down, we're just-"

"No more talking from you!" the middle Poliwrath interrupted. "I am Poliwrath, and this is my swamp!"

The Poliwrath to his right raised his hand and tapped on his shoulder. "Actually," he argued. "I am Poliwrath, not you."

"No," the Poliwrath on the far left interjected. "I am actually Poliwrath!"

Leah and I just stared at them. Clearly, to me at least, even the bosses of some of these local dungeons weren't very intelligent.

"It doesn't matter!" the one in the middle finally declared above their bickering. They all turned to us and balled up their fists and he cried, "We are the Poliwrath brothers, and we will defend our river!"

"Should we turn back?" I whispered behind me.

"No!" Leah sharply whispered back. "We've got to find Ampharos!"

"I'm sure he's fine, he's an electric type and—oh forget it..." I trailed off, and got in a battle stance. I was fortunate to do so at the time I did, allowing me to barely dodge a preemptive water pulse tossed my way.

I rushed forward and baited one of the Poliwrath to strike at me. As soon as he attacked, I jab-stepped and bounced backward. His fist came down in a chop that struck the marsh inches in front of my retreating figure. I took advantage of his momentary immobilization by wrapping his extended arm up with one of my vines. Leah covered my flank by nailing an approaching Poliwrath with a psybeam while I whipped the daylights out of the one I had constricted. He desperately tried to close the distance between us, but I would always hop back when he did, whipping him with one vine and keeping my hold on his primary arm with the other. He surprised me with a mud slap as I jumped back to avoid one of his punches, and it knocked me back into a puddle of more mud, getting the stuff all over my face. I cursed, expecting my vision to be blurred by a drop in accuracy, but I oddly felt no such effect. In fact, I almost felt as if I could see _better_ after getting hit by the disorienting attack. Hadn't something like this happened yesterday? I wouldn't have much time to ponder it as I scrambled out of the puddle a fraction of a second before his next punch hit where I was sitting. I immediately spun off of my heels and used my pivoting momentum to throw my tail into him. It slammed into his temple, and he was out cold.

I turned around to face Leah. The good news was that she had knocked one of the water and fighting types out with her super-effective psybeam. The bad news was that the one remaining Poliwrath had just finished cannoning her with a water pulse. I tossed a blast seed at his back, catching him off guard and sending him careening into the river a dozen feet away. I blinked and stared at the remaining couple of blast seeds I had. These things were awesome!

"Ngh-!" I heard a feminine voice grunt in pain, snapping me out of my introspection. Leah had collapsed into a puddle in the turf. Her fur was muddied and soaked.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned that her wound from yesterday might have reopened. Fortunately, as I checked it, I saw that it had remained a closed scab. It had just gotten wet, that was all. Good.

"Sage? Is that you? Why are there three of you?" She looked at me with unfocused eyes, leaning on me for support. I held on to her and kept her steady to avoid losing her balance and falling face first into the mud

"Easy there, don't get all clumsy like that Ampharos fellow..." I tried to stabilize her, but to no avail. Her sense of location had abandoned her.

"Pops, is it bedtime yet?" she slurred. I sighed. That water pulse must've put her in a state of confusion. I sat her down in a relatively dry patch of grass and splashed some water on her face a few times before she came to her senses.

"Ugh... Sage? Did we win?" she mumbled as she regained her senses.

"Yeah," I sighed in relief. "You, uh, just got a little confused, that's all."

"Oh, alr—behind you!"

Her cry spurred my legs to action at once. I spun around and found myself face to face with one of the Poliwrath, who had made his advance previously unnoticed. I noticed now—too late—that it was the one who I had blasted into the river, and judging by the hateful glare on his face, he clearly wasn't happy about that exchange.

Just as quickly as I noticed his presence, however, a yellow ball of energy from behind him sent him right back into the tributary. Behind the surprise electro ball attack stood the same Ampharos that had been tripping over himself hours before in the plaza.

"Why, if it isn't the kids from the village!" the perplexed electric type said.

"Thank you!" I exclaimed. I placed my hands on the back of my head in relection of what was almost a nasty hit. "That was close!"

"It is my pleasure," he smiled. No sooner had his smile appeared before replaced by a shade of curiosity. "But what are you two doing in a place like this?"

"We were looking for you, Ampharos. You dropped your connection orb in the village," Leah informed him as she grabbed the item out of her bag to give back to him.

"My! How could I be so careless!" he exclaimed. "Thank you my dear!" He took the orb from her and polished it a bit by rubbing it against the orb on his forehead. "Let us remove ourselves from this swamp and talk in a safer area, agreed?"

Leah and I nodded, and we made our way back to the village.

We arrived by sunset, although the mountains on the horizon made it come quicker for Serene Village than it would for places with a level horizon line. The three of us walked up the hill with the big tree on it, overlooking the plaza and taking in the view coated by the colors of the evening. Even though I'd seen it several times now, the view still took my breath away.

"Ah, this is much better," Ampharos blissfully sighed in the cool evening air. "Now, I understand you returned my connection orb to me. For that, I thank you, and I apologize for imposing such a burden on you two kids. It was remiss of me."

"Don't worry about it," I reassured him. "We've been through worse than that." It was no lie, Nectar Meadow had been a far worse experience than that little confrontation by the river.

"Ampharos, I'm a little curious..." Leah said curiously. "Do you happen to work for the Expedition Society? You know, in Lively Town?"

The lighthouse Pokemon paused for a moment, his forehead bulb reflecting the dying rays of the falling sun.

"No," he finally answered, to her disappointment. "I do not work for the Society."

Leah looked a little downcast, but her ears perked up upon hearing Ampharos's next question.

"Are you interested in joining the Expedition Society by any chance?"

"It's my dream!" Leah blurted, her eyes sparkling with passion as she spoke about her goals. "I want to take part in helping create a globe of the whole world. And I want to explore new places along the way and help Pokemon in need!"

"That's a truly splendid dream!" Ampharos chuckled.

"Yeah, but..." Leah trailed off.

"What's the matter?" Ampharos asked.

"The Society has a 'no kids' policy. And even if they accepted kids, I don't think I have the experience to keep up."

"Now, now," Ampharos comforted her. "Through hard work, you're sure to exceed these limits you so hastily put on yourself. Besides, you don't seem _that_ young."

"Maybe..." Leah said, only a fraction of her pessimism dissolved by the tall Pokemon's reassurance. "But still, I don't think I can wait the year or two necessary in order to be old enough to pass as an adult. I'm just too driven to get things done now, know what I mean?"

"I definitely grasp what you're getting at," Ampharos told her. "I don't know what to say about that rule concerning children. I wonder who could've surmised such a preposterous restriction?" He shook his head. "Anyhow, you say you want to help them now, correct? I think I might have just the thing."

Ampharos rummaged through his large bag and pulled out something that looked like your average toolkit. He raised it above his head dramatically before setting it on the ground in front of us.

"This," he began, pointing at the box. "Is a Junior Expedition Society kit! Complete with Society badges and Society gadgets... for junior members of course."

"Junior members?" I asked.

"Indeed," Ampharos said. "Junior members are like actual Society members, except they're _junior_ members instead."

This explanation, or overall lack of one, left me in the dark. It didn't matter to Leah, however, who was visibly sold at the words "actual Society members". I guessed what he meant was that this stuff would technically make us explorers, just not with the same load of responsibility that the Society would normally distribute. I was indeed a bit confused about it, but I couldn't find anything to complain about yet. I certainly wasn't about to decline right off the bat.

"Woah!" Leah gasped as she admired the goodies in the toolbox. "Sage, this means we can basically become members right now!"

I smiled at her enthusiasm, and we high-fived. I'd honestly have been lying if I said I wasn't a bit excited myself. This revelation would mean that most of our common exploring now would actually carry some initiative. Having real-world goals added to a recreational hobby was bound to be beneficial, right?

"It comes with a connection orb as well," Ampharos said, handing a brand-new one to us. "In order to actually use it, you'll need to insert it into that groove in the Society gadget."

The gadget was a hexagonally shaped plate with a groove at the top obviously intended to fit the connection orb. I took the orb from Ampharos's outstretched hand and inserted it snugly into the opening. Pixels on the gadget's face buzzed to life as Leah and I were now staring at a menu controlled with a touch screen.

"This is some technology I've never seen before!" Leah squealed. "Is it true that the Expedition Society stores their information digitally?"

"Why, you'll just have to ask them one day," Ampharos replied, patting her on the head. I began playing around with the gadget, exploring some of the settings and eventually coming across the 'map' feature. Ampharos took notice and explained it to me.

"That, right there, is a map of this area of the Water Continent," he explained. "To expand your map to that of the Nexus Atlas in Lively Town, you'll need to visit the Expedition Society and link your gadget up with the database at their headquarters."

I nodded, taking it all in. Leah's ears perked up at Ampharos's mention of Lively Town, and she began bouncing with excitement.

"One day that's where we're gonna go!" she declared. "Right Sage?"

I continued to observe her enthusiasm, and remembered the promise I had given her on this hill days before. I told her I'd help her accomplish her dream, even though at the time I had no reason to. It was terribly naive of me to commit to something like that only days into entering this world, especially when I didn't know if I could trust anyone. But in hindsight, I was convinced I hadn't made a mistake. My gambit with Leah was fresh and a bit rough around the edges thus far, but it seemed that if I were to stay in this world, sticking with her for the long term was by far the best-presented course of action. So, that's exactly what I communicated to her.

"Right!" I answered, returning some of the optimism and broadening her grin. "I'm looking forward to it."

"I'm glad to see you two so peppy!" Ampharos chuckled. "I'm glad to have met such bright youths!"

"Likewise," I replied, shaking his hand firmly with a vine. "But, I have a question actually..."

"What are you needing to know?"

I cleared my throat. "A couple of times while exploring dungeons, I've gotten into confrontations with Pokemon that have used attacks to try and hinder my fighting ability. Instead of the intended effect, however, I experienced the weird outcome of actually having my abilities boosted instead. Like the effect was reversed on itself."

Leah tilted her head in confusion. Ampharos rubbed his chin, contemplating my description. "Perhaps you can give an example of this phenomenon?" he suggested.

"I got hit by a string shot attack while dueling with a hostile Beedrill," I explained. "The sticky string is supposed to slow you down, right?"

Ampharos nodded. "Naturally, yes. That is the intended effect."

"Well, my speed went up, not down. And today, one of those Poliwrath got mud in my face to blind me, but it only ended up improving my vision rather than an accuracy drop. Is this some kind of natural paradox or something?"

Ampharos hummed before going silent for a few moments. Leah and I watched him process my claim until he finally surmised an answer. "I believe I might have some idea of what's going on, but I couldn't really tell you much, I'm afraid. I'd suggest visiting the library in Lively Town, assuming you two plan on following through with your words of an eventual trip. It can provide plenty of information you can use to learn about these kinds of phenomenon."

"But I've never experienced anything like that, though," Leah pitched in. "So it can't be something that happens to everyone."

"Some Pokemon's genetics are not confined only to their initial values," Ampharos said. "...Not that I am a scholar of any kind. My word is not much better than yours, hah!"

I nodded, and scratched my chin. Perhaps Lively Town was a plausible destination for me in the near future? If there was any documentation of my transition into a Pokemon, it would probably be in a library, right?

"Wait..." Leah began, snapping me and Ampharos out of our respective thoughts and ending the brief silence that had fallen on our group. She looked up at Ampharos. "If you don't work for the Society... how did you get your hands on this expensive equipment?"

"Ah," Ampharos chimed, raising his hand in the air. "I understand your suspicion. It is true that I do not work for the Society. However, I never said I wasn't _associated_ with the Society." He chuckled as he observed Leah and I trying to make sense of his words.

Before we could press the issue further about this mysterious Pokemon, he engaged in giving us a brief lesson on how to use the gadget and the badges that we were given. Ampharos suggested we enter a "team name", since we were technically going to be recognized as a Water Continent rescue and exploration team. He explained that all teams had a title that they were known by, making global identification easier.

"It should be something significant about us," Leah insisted. "Something binding us together that we can relate to."

"Uhh..." I stammered, unable to pick up any mental traction. Leah scratched her forehead and twitched her nose in deep thought. "Yeah, I got nothing." I finally said after a dozen seconds of inspiration-less void.

Leah looked up at me expectantly. "What's something we have in common?" she pressed, angling her ears forward.

"Well, part of why we promised to be friends was because of how misunderstood we both are," I began.

She considered it for a moment, scratching her chin and staring at the dazzling sky above us. "That's true. Everyone thinks I'm a troublemaker and everyone thought you were a liar, or at least they did before yesterday's success in Nectar Meadow. What was that Simipour had said in his speech when Pancham was calling you out...?"

His words returned to me. I had been so grateful that the principal had come to my aid that day that I could still recall the words he'd said.

 _"...The moral is this: the gravity of your perspective defines your reality, not the other way around. The angle at which you see things determines what is there to be seen. It is the prism of truth."_

I mused over his words, trying to draw inspiration. Could I produce a name for a full-fledged exploration team from that?

 _Team Truth...? No, that's terrible._

 _Team, uh... Perspective...? Meh, it's got one too many syllables._

I thought for a moment longer.

 _Team... Prism...? I mean, it's got a ring to it. Why not?_

"He had talked about a 'prism of truth'," I supplied. "Why not Team Prism?"

"Team... Prism... It's got a ring to it," Leah replied, mimicking my thoughts while barely stopping to think about it herself. "I like it!"

I typed in the words into the gadget, holding it with my vines as I used my arms to tap the letters on the digital keyboard. I registered Leah and I as the only members. Leah insisted that I be registered as the "leader" since I had covered the front both times we had explored a full dungeon together. I didn't object; I was in no position to scrutinize Leah's work ethic after she saved my life yesterday.

With our work done, Leah and I finally bid farewell to Ampharos, who said he'd be leaving tomorrow before dawn. We headed to our homes to avoid a scolding for being late for our dinners. Leah let me take the Society stuff home with me since she didn't feel like answering questions about the expensive gear from her pops.

Despite the fact that Audino had told us not to strain ourselves for the next few days, I found comfort in the way Leah and I worked together to pull through today's quest to find Ampharos. Even if we got battered and drenched a couple of times, I could literally feel my cells getting stronger as the days passed. I believed this was what most Pokemon called "leveling up". The soreness remained, however, and the only relief that could silence it was the warm bed awaiting my return. I ate dinner with Nuzleaf before collapsing into its soft comfort. Leah and I were probably going to be working hard tomorrow with our new "duties", whatever they would be, and it had now become essential that I get quality sleep each night. I wondered about the things we'd be doing as an exploration team until my fatigued mind and body could no longer maintain consciousness.


	13. Summer

Chapter 13 - Summer

"Found any good ones?" Leah asked between bites as she snacked on an apple. It was after school, and we were lounging on a bench at the edge of the village tinkering with the gadget. Ampharos had briefly instructed us last night on job applications that would appear through the connection orb, so we were trying to find a job to kick-start our "junior" careers.

"Nah, there's no signal over he- oh!" I held the gadget in the air as the connection screen lit up with jobs in the area. "I think I got something!"

"Lemme see!" Leah gasped, dropping her half-eaten apple and snatching the gadget from my tiny hands. An icon appeared and she jabbed her paw on it, nearly knocking the gadget out of her own grip. I had previously informed her that the touch screen was quite sensitive and didn't require much pressure to respond, but my partner always insisted on almost punching the screen in excitement every time she used it.

The icon sparkled and the pink and white face of a Pokemon appeared. Under its face read its location and a name: "Sylveon".

"This job is the only one within half a day's walk from here," Leah said as she handed the gadget back to me. "It says Foreboding Forest below the image, so that must be where this Pokemon sent out a call for help."

I tilted my head. "It's that simple? How does that even work?"

Leah just shrugged in response, stating without words that her guess was no better than mine. I guess the less we knew, the less it mattered.

This was my second time inside the Foreboding Forest, and it was nothing short of a breeze through. I assumed the source behind the ease of intrusion was the experience I had felt myself gaining after the past few days of hard work. Wild Pokemon that were once considered rather pesky were now fortunate to be considered an afterthought as they fell to an assault of vines and embers.

Saving that Sylveon was simple enough. She was huddled not far from where Espurr and I had located Goomy when I first arrived at the village. The poor girl had gotten herself stuck in a place clearly foreign to her natural habitat, but she didn't really stick around to give details. She gave us some of the resources she'd collected in the forest as a thanks and went on her way.

I thought that was the end of it, but a remarkable thing happened when the connection orb confirmed our completion of the job. The icon of Sylveon stayed there, and the screen displayed lines stretching to several more icons of different Pokemon. I guess this must've been what Kecleon meant by "seeing connections", hence the name of the connection orb. Besides that, it also registered the completed job with our team's record in the form of virtual "points". Leah crudely explained that our rescue team was ranked on a scale that was established a long time ago, and our status would improve with each job we completed. From this, it was easy to assume that we'd likely be completing a lot of jobs.

Summer break was to start soon, so I couldn't find any issue with being productive with my time by working for the "junior" Society. I resolved to be like Leah and view it as a fun hobby rather than community work. Besides, that Sylveon paid us well enough even though we weren't expecting anything in return. Motivation wouldn't be an issue.

Improvement would come as time passed. As our newly formed team explored dungeons for the next three weeks helping Pokemon, our development would continue to blossom. It was still hardly visible, but I noticed that my partner's muscles on her legs had begun to thicken. She still possessed her signature lean figure, but now I could detect a more robust vibe emanating off of her whenever she was prepared to put in work for the Society. Perhaps this stemmed from the extra spring in her naturally energetic step that our obligations have lead to. I mean, she technically had her dream job now, so it made sense that she would tackle it with everything she had. It was doing wonders for her character, and it was even earning her a bit of respect from some of the villagers. I had to admit, I was enjoying the bits of recognition I was gaining by her side as well.

My own physical development wasn't one that I could really visualize; rather, it was one I had understood and could utilize in everyday life. After around five weeks in this world, I had become totally accustomed to using my vines. I was no marksman with them, at least not yet, but the foreign awkwardness that had accompanied their usage had finally faded away. I could safely say that they were a better substitute for my little arms for virtually all commonplace activities involving the upper body.

As far as combat went, besides the improvement with my vines, I'd learned how to use leaf tornado. The range on the attack wasn't too impressive, but it was ideal for panic situations and served as a second offensive option that was a bit safer depending on the opponent in question.

What still remained in the dark, however, was the phenomenon that Ampharos was unable to explain concerning my reversed stat-changes. I had written the first two incidents off as nothing more than my imagination running wild in the heat of battle, even thinking that it was stupid to have asked Ampharos about it in the first place. However, the oddity was brought to light once again as a wild Pidove used featherdance and my attack was literally raised rather than lowered. Leah, who must've not thought much of it either, was aghast at the sight of my attacks suddenly powering up to devastating levels that sent the poor bird packing. Neither of us could explain it; all we knew was that it wasn't normal. None of the teachers knew anything about it either, not that I really expected them to. Most of the lessons they had given us all year covered simple topics such as the properties of mystery dungeons and the traditional subjects you'd expect to find in a school, such as mathematics and language arts. Farfetch'd suggested that I seek out a more advanced educational source if I wanted to know about something like that, which was basically what I'd already planned to do after talking with Ampharos.

Education in the present, speaking of, was coming to a close. The final school bell rang, indicating summer break's beginning and preceded shouts of excitement from my classmates. I was incredibly relieved that summer break had finally arrived, as anyone should be. As highly as I valued education in a world in which I initially lacked the most basic knowledge, I couldn't really agree that school was my favorite place to spend time.

I looked around at my classmates and briefly wondered what they would be doing this summer. Relaxing would probably be an accurate estimation. I slightly envied their newfound leisure knowing that Leah and I would still bear the responsibility of a rescue team, but at the same time, I was kind of excited to gain the hours of the day previously reserved for classes to spread our team's influence.

On the subject of my classmates: things were still a bit awkward between us. I was conflicted between the instinct to not trust them and the urge to make amends, and it had been gnawing away at my nerves ever since the day after Nectar Meadows. I'd had a couple of brief conversations with Espurr courtesy of her telepathy, mostly just involving trivial things like asking for an extra pencil or sheet of paper. But even she, who I had considered one of my closest friends, heeded the distance.

After giving the topic enough thought, I simply decided to leave everyone be and let things work themselves out as time passed. The whole thing was stupid anyway, and it had already distracted me enough. When I asked Leah about it, she shrugged and said she didn't think much of the drama as well. It was all best left ignored.

Despite the extra hours, our duties would keep the two of us embroiled in a mess of responsibility every day. A Vulpix lost in the forest here, a Yanma looking for a lost item there. We even got tangled up challenging a Salamence once. It was only thanks to a well-thrown sleep seed that we narrowly escaped with minimal injury. Regardless of the hassle, our efforts proved consistently rewarding, and I could finally say I was immersed with the whole Society business. My mentality had begun to match that of Leah's enthusiastic determination, leading to productive results and a more mentally-comfortable daily life for myself. Thoughts of my human situation had become isolated in the back of my brain as it filled up with new memories and tendencies.

The brutal heat of the summer, on the other hand, was something that nobody could shove to the back of their minds. Every member of the village could be seen visibly perspiring as the sun flared down on them during the long hours of the average day. Leah mentioned to me a couple of times how bad the heat was getting, and I wholeheartedly agreed. It caught my attention that she was a fire-type and likely enjoyed the heat more than any other Pokemon, perhaps besides certain grass types with sunlight-supported abilities. If she was feeling its effects, then this particular summer was clearly not worthy of a blind-eye turned. Even glancing at the sun almost gave the impression that it was had grown in size, as if some cosmological phenomenon was the explanation for the heat wave.

Early in this blazing summer heat came the first real drama the village had seen since school let out. One morning, Nuzleaf was gone on a business trip, allowing Leah to sneak into the house and prank the hell out of me. I was still snoozing away as she naughtily dropped a tamato berry (I wouldn't know where she got it) down my throat. By the time my brain began to comprehend the waking realm, I was overwhelmed with the neuronal sensation of a flaming esophagus. I chased her for a good seven minutes around the village before I finally succumbed to exhaustion amplified by the lingering fire in my throat. Of course, Leah was laughing her head off the entire time, and only doubled down in hysterics when she saw me indulge my entire head in the lake to sooth the burning.

We found ourselves in the plaza just hanging around after I had finished unconventionally drinking away the last of the spices. From my peripherals I noticed Pancham and Shelmet approaching, and before I could motion to my partner that we maintain a distance, they were upon us.

Pancham rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Hey- uh, Sage," he stammered. "How's your summer been?"

"Well enough," I replied dryly. "Yours?"

I suppose the fact that I even responded at all exceeded his expectations, and I could see most of the tensity that tightened his stature get replaced with his typical carefree output. "It's been pretty dope," he gloated, holding his head up and smirking.

"Yeah!" Shelmet chimed in, seemingly oblivious to any awkwardness that might've plagued our conversation. "We've been defending our title as the 'prankster gangsters' of this village."

"The... what?"

"You heard me. We're the one and only," he continued. "You should've seen the look on Lombre's face when he finally realized there had been a perfect apple stuck on his head all day. It was golden!" He eyed us both meticulously. "What, you think you can top that? Any pranks you've pulled that are better?"

I noticed Leah's grin developing, and I did not even give her the grace of opening her mouth before a vine slapped over it. " _No_ ," I sharply insisted, giving her a wayward glance and making her giggle. "No pranks happening around here. _Right Leah_?"

Letting my vine off of her closed jaw, she narrowed her eyes and me and adopted a sheepish grin. "Whatever you say Smugleaf."

"Anyway," Pancham butted in, the exchange blowing by him. "Have you heard the rumors about the school lately?"

Leah hummed curiously, and raised an eyebrow at him. "School is out, so what could possibly be going on involving it?"

"We've heard on the grapevine that at night, the school is..." the panda swung his head side to side, seeing if anyone was listening, although it was pretty evident that he was just doing it for dramatic effect. "...haunted!"

I raised my eyebrows. He said haunted? Like, as in ghosts? The thought barely entered my head before I registered the sound of a sharp gasp to my side. I tilted my head a few degrees toward my partner, and noticed an emotion that was typically repellant to her nature had integrated into her expression. She looked incredibly anxious, almost fearful.

"H-haunted?" she stammered.

"That's right," said Pancham. "We heard that these blue flames pop out of thin air, and chant 'so very hot' to anyone nearby the school in the dark hours of nighttime. It's gotta be ghosts, there's no other explanation."

"Gh-ghosts?" my partner mumbled, visibly losing her stability.

"No doubt," Shelmet answered. "Ghosts who are here to haunt the school and-"

"BOO!" Pancham cried out. It really was a lousy attempt at scaring us, although it did trigger my ears a little bit as they were still adjusting to the morning air. Despite the silliness of his shout, however, Leah practically leaped backward as if she was standing on hot coals. Pancham and Shelmet couldn't contain their laughter.

"The prankster gangsters strike again!" Shelmet chanted.

Pancham sneered at us, smirking mischievously. "Isn't that rich!" he laughed. "You're afraid of ghosts, huh Leah? That's so wimpy! No doubt I'll remember that one!" The two stooges continued their laughter as they strolled away from us, probably to go plot more mischief.

I turned to Leah, who was mildly shivering even though it was like a hundred degrees outside. "Hey, you okay?" I asked her. "Don't sweat Pancham. It's probably not even real."

"No..." she confessed, hardly looking up at me. "Kanghaskan actually mentioned something about the ghosts the other day. I think I even heard Watchog claim he actually saw one. Look, I just... I'm not that good with these kinds of things. It gives me nightmares. It's really cowardly, I know..."

"Not at all," I reassured her, shaking my head. "We all have our weaknesses. Pancham is just trying to exploit yours to satisfy some ridiculous superiority complexion, that's all." I took a step toward the gate and waved at her to follow. "Come on, you'll forget all about it with some exploring."

To my dismay, she shook her head. A downcast look covered her face, and I felt a pang of guilt for letting Pancham get under her skin so easily. The burst of excited hysterics she had exhibited only minutes before was now replaced with melancholy. "I'm not feeling up to it today..." she sighed wistfully. "I'm sorry Sage. I really am. You don't mind, do you?"

"If you're not feeling well about it, I understand," I sighed back with a concerned nod in her direction. "I was actually thinking you should get some rest anyway. You've been pushing yourself hard lately." She nodded and, without another word, solemnly padded back to her house. I stared after her for a few moments before turning back to the gate.

I was ill at ease that she was so easily disturbed by Pancham's careless banter, but I was still determined to make use of my time. I picked a relatively easy mission for the day, hoping that even going solo I could still finish by mid-afternoon and get some extra rest as well. As I made my way out the gate, however, I was beckoned by a familiar soft voice from behind.

"Going alone today?"

I turned around and met Espurr's gaze. Her eyes contained a certain amount of casual indifference, but they were also expressing warmness that I couldn't rebuke even if I wanted to. Still, it had been a while since I'd really talked with any classmates, my encounter with Pancham and Shelmet a few moments prior being one of a few occasional anomalies, so it was difficult to reply in stride.

"Uh- yeah," I replied awkwardly. "Leah's not feeling well, but I've still got to fill our daily quota of work."

"Ah, yes," she purred, relaxing a little bit. "I remember overhearing her talking about the Expedition Society. Is it true that you two are members?"

I considered the context of the question before shaking my head no. "We're 'junior' members, whatever that's supposed to mean. In essence, we're basically just an exploration team."

"Yes, I knew that about that part. Everyone in the village does," she said. When she saw my surprised look, she giggled. "There aren't many rescue teams on this continent, and certainly not this deep in the countryside. It's hard not to notice the work you two have been doing. Didn't you know?"

"I mean... sort of? We've gotten a few compliments from the locals, but other than that I haven't noticed much." I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "Uh... you wouldn't happen to be interested in accompanying me today, would you?"

I assumed Espurr had planned on asking that herself, but if she did, she surely didn't show it. She reacted as if someone had just given her an amazing gift. "That would be wonderful!" she sang. "Where to?"

"Glittering Mountain. A local Larvitar child has apparently gotten himself stuck in a shallow crevice. Shouldn't be too difficult to solve."

Espurr cocked her head sideways. "How do you know? Did you get a special request in the mail or something?"

"No, we get missions straight from the connection orb. I'll explain it on the way there..."

Espurr and I were hiking down to the base of the mountain as the sun began its descent toward the horizon. What was intended to be a trivial mission ended up consuming twice the time and thrice the effort that I had anticipated. I was glad I had a companion, or else I might not have gotten back before dark. Fortunately, Espurr's kinesis and my vines were enough to hoist the poor child out of the fissure he had fallen into. Following that, we ran into a wild herd of Rhyhorn stampeding across the mountainside while in the process of returning the Larvitar to its parents. Not a fun way to spend a blistering hot summer day.

We were both tired from the culmination of the labor and the heat, but we each found ways dealt with it. This kind of basic exertion was something I had getting used to at this point, so it was really just another day for me. Espurr, to my surprise, made no complaints or even visibly displayed her exhaustion beyond the sweat that dampened her fur. I knew she was a fighter, and definitely someone who betrayed her looks, but I didn't expect her to be conditioned to deal with this kind of work in this kind of heat without faltering even a little. Not to mention she had the disadvantage of a fur pelt that was coveted during the winter but detrimental in this pressing heat.

Espurr had expressed a vehement interest in Team Prism during our adventure. I told her all about the connection orb, and Ampharos, and some of the more consequential missions Leah and I had been on. She listened intently, taken in by the few brief tales I was able to tell. The look on her face when I told her we defeated a Salamence!

The irony of it all hit me and made me smile. I was educating her on exploration, when she had been the one doing the exact same for me that day in the Foreboding Forest not even two months prior. It was nice to feel competent in a foreign body.

We reached the village just as the sun was dipping the first of its entrails below the mountains. As we reached the crossroads, Espurr turned around and smiled at me gleefully. Her eyes shined with colors of gratitude.

"Thanks for letting me come. It was fun exploring with you again."

I returned the smile, any traces of previous awkwardness now dissolved into nothingness. "I should be thanking you. I must say, you really can't go wrong with having a psychic type on your side. We should do this more often."

She giggled and nodded. "I'd love to." Suddenly her expression took a turn towards nervousness, and her smile deteriorated into a flustered line. "Sage, I've been meaning to talk to you about what happened that day you went to Nectar Meadows, and I just want to say I-"

A vine gently rested itself on her shoulder, cutting her off. "Don't." I insisted, now much more serious. "There's nothing to apologize about. E-even if it worked out in the end, it was a ridiculous decision to go and everyone had a right to be apprehensive. After my experience there, I wouldn't have wanted you or anyone else to come anyway."

I cleared my throat nervously, and continued. "I just... I just got set off by seeing Leah get hurt, that's all. To see her, of all Pokemon, get hurt in my stead when I still owed her an apology was... well... it made me feel terrible, and I guess I just took it out on you guys. So for that, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she purred reassuringly. "It's all behind us. Although, I must compliment your courage for rushing to such a dangerous place."

I rubbed the back of my head, flattered by her compliment. "Courage...? I don't know about that. 'Recklessness' sounds more accurate."

"Well, you need a bit of both to get things done sometimes, right?" she hummed, her smile never fading. "You defeated a Salamence after all."

I almost said 'only because of a sleep seed', but I reckoned it wasn't appropriate for the point she was making.

"Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow." she added with a parting wave. "If you ever need a companion for one of your missions, I'd be happy to accompany you."

I nodded. "I'll remember that. Thank you."

As she began to turn away, I remembered something I had meant to ask her.

"Espurr, wait." She turned around and look at me curiously. "What do you make of all these ghost stories?"

She put a paw to her chin in thought. "Ah, I heard about that. Ghosts at the school, right?" I nodded my head in confirmation. "Well..." she continued. "I'd like to meet them, if they're real. It would be an interesting experience."

I blinked. She wanted to _meet_ them? Wouldn't she be scared?

 _"Nope. Ghosts fascinate me."_

 _Oops... I forgot she could read my thoughts._

"Anyway, I'll see you," she called, out loud this time. She made her way over to her house and disappeared through the door.

My mind was heavily occupied with thoughts of the legitimacy of the rumors, which was outlined by the fatigue nipping at my joints. But above it all was the immense relief that I wouldn't have to worry about isolating Espurr anymore. I was an idiot for not apologizing to her sooner, but it was hard to be dissatisfied with the conclusion to today's adventure. I would definitely have to take up her offer for an extra companion; with efficiency in mind, she'd be a great teammate to round out the squad, or in cases like today, keep me company while my partner was preoccupied. I just hoped Leah wouldn't mind the thought of having a third teammate every now and then.

Oh yeah... Leah. I made my way back to Nuzleaf's house and stopped at the entrance to glance to my left. Her house was silent, with no sign of life inside from where I stood. I considered going to check on her, but I just settled with peeking through the window. When I did, I saw the Fennekin sound asleep on her bed curled around a large pillow. I smiled at the sight; she would be just fine.

After a few moments of staring through the grated opening, I was satisfied that she would be alright. I made my way back to my own bed, popped an oran berry in my mouth, and fell asleep immediately.

The next day, Nuzleaf was still gone on one of his "business trips", leading to Leah waking me again. Thankfully this time didn't include spicy berries; instead she simply shook me awake.

"Sage, wake up!"

"Wha- huh?" I mumbled, still halfway in dreamland.

"There's some big commotion in the plaza, come on!" she announced as she tried to pull me out of bed. "Get up or I'll burn you!"

"Woah, chill!" I exclaimed, jumping up and stumbling as blood rushed to the tips of my feet. I idled a few seconds to let my body adjust to a standing position before popping a few joints and quizzing my partner. "What's this about a commotion?"

"I don't know, but most of the village is crowded by the lake, all huddled around Farfetch'd. Let's go!"

"O-okay," I murmured before finishing the awakening process with a deliberately popped jaw. She rushed out of the house ahead of me, and I was momentarily pleased that she had regained the sporadic energy that had been snuffed yesterday by talks of ghosts. I turned to follow her, jogging out of my room and grabbing an apple to eat along the way.

We arrived at a scene very similar to what Leah had described. Most of the villagers were over by the edge of the lake, watching as Farfetch'd was being questioned by Principal Simipour. We saw our entire class there as well, and we rushed over to them.

"What's going on?" I whispered.

"It's Mr. Farfetch'd," Goomy said. "He's been attacked by ghosts!"

Upon seeing me and Leah's shocked expressions, Deerling filled us in. "Nurse Audino says he disappeared last night when they were doing their rounds at the school. He was finally found at the crossroads in the early hours of the morning by the principal, who claims he was being propelled along by blue fireballs."

"So w-what happened?" Leah asked nervously.

"The flames disappeared before Simipour could get close enough to get a good view," Pancham said. "It sounds pretty freaky."

"Yeah, it sounds like someone's trying to claim our title as the prankster gangsters!" Shelmet declared a little too loudly, earning us a few annoyed looks from the adults who were listening to the questioning. We decided we'd listen in as well.

"...I swear, it was the ghosts!" the mortified voice of Farfetch'd cried. "They knocked me out cold!"

"I told you I wasn't sleeping on the job!" Watchog suddenly exclaimed. "They did the same to me the night before!"

Simipour rubbed his chin, ignoring his vice principal and pondering the information that they had collectively accumulated. "From what we know, it was blue flames that knocked you out and carried you down the path. Did you have any visions, or perhaps hear something that you could share with us?"

"Well..." Farfetch'd started nervously. "They were chanting something, like 'hot hot hot', right before I fainted."

"Hmm..." Simipour pondered aloud. "This seems to support Watchog's account of the instance. But unfortunately, we don't know anything concerning the nature of these 'ghosts'. Their numbers and their species are completely unknown to us, so for the time being, there isn't much anyone can do. I will contact the sheriffs and inform them of these incidents, but until they figure this out, I would advise everyone stay away from the school and stay indoors when it is dark."

The villagers all murmured their agreement and began to disperse. As our classmates left to do their own things, I turned to Leah.

"What do you make of all this?" I asked her.

"I-I don't know. I just hope we don't get involved," she said.

"Yeah, I agree. Are you still willing to do a job today?"

She nodded her head and flashed a hearty smile. "Of course! No way am I skipping two days in a row."

Leah and I had returned early from the job. We had to save some stupid Mareep kid who got herself stuck in a tree through some unexplainable means that we didn't bother to grab an earful of. Our usual plans to spend the rest of the day relaxing at the cafe were not to be impeded on, as they were certainly considered just as important as the job it often followed. But the anticipated lethargy of a late summer afternoon took an odd left turn when we were suddenly confronted by an exasperated Deerling and Goomy as we passed through the village gates.

Deerling skipped over to us in a near-panicked state, while her slower companion slugged his way behind her, unable to keep up with her burst of speed.

"There you guys are!" the deer Pokemon panted.

"What's going on?" Leah asked.

"Pancham is gathering everyone up on the hill," she told us. "He says he's got an announcement, and he wanted you two to be there."

I raised an eyebrow. Pancham wanted me and Leah? Why so urgently?

"This had better not be some huge prank," I responded.

Deerling shook her head. "No, he seemed really serious about it. I think it has something to do with the commotion this morning, to be honest with you. Knowing him, he's probably thinking about doing something."

Leah's eyes got a bit wider, and we shared a glance. The look in her eyes spoke for her: 'you said we shouldn't get involved'. I narrowed my eyes, and considered the proposal.

 _Pancham couldn't actually plan on going to the school at night, right? It sounds like something he would conjure up, but he wouldn't actually follow through, would he?_

That was exactly what he was trying to do. We all arrived on the scene and found Pancham and Shelmet discussing something quietly while Espurr idled under the shade of the big tree.

"There you are!" he exclaimed. "Now, about the ghosts..."

"Pancham, please don't tell me you're thinking about confronting them," Deerling whined, rolling her eyes.

"Well, we all want to know what's going on, right?" he reasoned. "Then why don't we just see for ourselves?"

"So that _is_ what this is about," I scowled.

"Well, gee Pancham, maybe because we could, I don't know, _die_?" Deerling replied to his question dryly.

"Yeah..." Goomy murmured. "I-I don't really wanna die anytime soon."

Shelmet rushed to his partner's defense. "Hey, that's really extreme! Watchog and Farfetch'd were unharmed, and they're old hags! We, on the other hand, are in the prime of our lives!"

I laughed out loud. Espurr did too. "No we aren't," the psychic-type countered, stifling another chuckle. "We still have a few more years before we're in our 'prime'."

"What makes you say that?" Shelmet challenged.

"Nobody here is evolved, for one," she argued. "And nobody here possesses any sort of overwhelming strength. However..." she stopped for a moment to brush a strand of hair from her face before continuing. "With all of that aside, I think I'll go. I admit I'm a bit curious about these ghosts myself."

I had to assume that this whole thing was one big prank by Pancham and Shelmet's pranking coalition of idiocy. But if it was, then I supposed I would entertain them until they actually decided to pull something flashy. And if it wasn't, then we would figure this whole ghost situation out. Shelmet may be about as smart as the metal stuck on his head, but he did had a point about Watchog and Farfetch'd not being hurt. With that in mind, what was the worst that could happen?

I sighed, finally making my decision, and spoke up. "I guess I'll go too. If something bad happens, we can probably handle it."

"That's more like it!" Pancham cheered. "Anyone else?" When he noticed nobody immediately volunteering, he snickered. "Oh come on, don't tell me y'all are _scared_." He stared straight at Leah, putting extra emphasis on the last word. Leah faltered slightly, but did her best to match his stare with makeshift determination.

"Shut up Pancham..." she grumbled.

"What?" the panda countered. "I thought you were supposed to be a rescue team. Isn't it your job to solve these kinds of problems?"

 _...He had a point, actually._

"You know what, fine!" she abruptly yelled. "Since you're in such _dire_ need of a rescue team's abilities, then count me in!" Her voice audibly quavered, but it also carried an abundance of energy in it, and I could tell she was planning to follow through.

"Wonderful," Pancham assented, then turning to Deerling and Goomy. "What about you two, then?"

"Oh, fine," Deerling relented after a moment's reluctance. "But if you make us sneak out and go to the school at night just for some stupid prank of yours, I _swear_ I will curbstomp you into the chalkboard and sacrifice you to the ghosts."

"Deal," Pancham said before turning to Goomy. "What about you, Goomy? Want to prove you've got real guts?"

"Haven't you said that like fifty times before?" he answered, still unconvinced.

"Maybe so, but have you ever done something this daring before?" said Pancham.

"Goomy, you don't have to go if you don't want to," Deerling assured him. "It might be a smart decision to stay home in case something bad does happen."

Goomy shook his head. "No, I think I'm going. Even if it does sound really scary..."

"That's that, then!" Pancham proclaimed. "Tonight we'll sneak into the school and solve the mystery. You guys will need to figure out how to get out of your houses undetected, and we'll meet in the plaza at midnight."

"Wait, how do we get out of the house without getting caught?" Goomy asked.

"I dunno," Pancham shrugged. "Use a window or something. It can't be too hard, right?"

"I guess not..."

We all dispersed back to our homes, planning our escape routes for tonight. I assumed it would be a walk in the park for me, with Nuzleaf gone and all. However, I should've known it wouldn't be that simple, as I quickly discovered that he had returned when I got back to the house.

"Hiya Sage!" he called upon seeing me enter. "Like my scarf?"

Around his neck was a white accessory sporting a pattern similar to the one on my own scarf. His scarf was clearly not cheap, and although it couldn't be remotely close to the value of my own, it still made me pause to consider where he found the money to buy it. Maybe this particular "business trip" had a high monetary yield? Now that I thought about it, he never really told me what he did on his trips anyway. Whatever it was, it was obviously well above doing odd jobs with little output. Maybe I'd ask him about it later.

"Yeah, it looks spiffy," I complimented.

He blushed. "Why, I mightily appreciate that. It was the closest thing I could find that could possibly match the one 'round your neck." He pulled something out of his bag, and held it out to me. "Want a cookie? I got these imported straight from the Air Continent."

I waved it away, turning towards my room. "Thanks, but I think I'm gonna turn in. I'm tired."

He looked surprised. "Already?" he questioned while looking out the window. "I reckon it's still mid-afternoon."

"Woke up early," was my brief response as I crossed the barrier between the two rooms. I felt a little guilty lying to him about why I was sleeping so early, even if I actually was kinda tired and I did technically wake up early for the commotion in the plaza. In reality, I was aiming to get some sleep now so that I would wake up by midnight and have enough energy to defend myself in case things got dicey.

I had a feeling I'd probably need to.


	14. Wisps of Innocence

Chapter 14 - Wisps of Innocence

The sky had turned to charcoal when my line of sight met the ceiling above. Blinking a few times to ward off the grogginess nipping at my eyelids, I glanced out the window and up at the visible parts of the waning moon. By the looks of it, it was already a little past midnight. Perfect.

I could hear Nuzleaf's snores from the other room, and ruled out leaving through the front due to a door in my way that needed its hinges oiled long ago. This was no big deal though; I had a simple backup plan that would probably require less effort anyway.

I sat up, stretched, and made my way over to the window. The remaining sliver of moon was almost entirely covered by passing clouds, barely leaving me enough light to enact my escape. I could visualize my surroundings just well enough to make my way over to the window and slide my serpentine body through, being careful not to knock into anything in the process and buzzkill the night ahead before it could even begin. The grating present on the opening was spaced out and no match for my lithe frame; as I had come to discover numerous times before, being a nimble snake delivered its benefits.

Once I was sure the coast was clear, I slithered over to the front of the house where Leah was supposed to meet me. When I realized she wasn't there, I thought she might've either overslept or was unable to escape. Before I could begin making my way to her window, I jumped at a muffled voice to my right.

"Sage," a familiar voice whispered, causing me to jump. "Over here."

I whipped my head around and faintly traced the outline of her brightly-colored fur. She was crouched in a bush by the house, the same one she had frequently used to jump me when I walked out the front door some mornings.

"Goodness Leah, you scared me!" I whispered back. As she emerged from the bush and I caught a glimpse of her facial expression, however, I could clearly see that I was not the one who was scared here. She looked absolutely terrified tonight.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked, a pitch of sympathy replacing the mild disdain from a moment ago. "Look, we can still turn back. This isn't something we're obligated to do."

She shook her head vehemently. "No, no I'm fine," she insisted, her face dimmed in the caliginous moonlight. "I'm just a little anxious thinking about what happened to Farfetch'd."

"I can relate. Just don't worry about it, we'll be fine," I reassured her. "Stick by me, we have to go pick up Espurr."

She nodded, and we made our way across the bridge, being extra careful not to make any noise. Even one little slip-up could mean half the village opening their doors and likely ensuing some kind of panic, considering the recent ghost stories.

Leah had explained the other day that Serene Village was too secluded to be near any major trade routes, meaning commodities like glass weren't in enough abundance to provide for paned windows. Most of the villagers apparently preferred the constant flow of fresh air anyway. What that meant for us, however, was that any little bit of noise here in the residential area would reach the sleeping ears of the villagers unhindered by the walls of their homes.

Luckily, Espurr's house wasn't far, and we reached it without uttering a peep. I was about to whisper through her window, but she scared Leah and I senseless when she casually pushed open her front door, eating some kind of berry sandwich.

"Oh, hey," she said nonchalantly, quietly enough to not tip off any sleeping villagers but still much louder than we had been whispering before. She eyed both of us and smiled. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," I chuckled silently. "Just try not to scare us like that."

"Yeah, w-we're ready..." Leah added with less enthusiasm.

The three of us quietly made our way to the plaza, where we were initially supposed to meet up with the other group. We tip-toed along, our steps making little disturbance in the hardly-moonlit grass. Leah's steps were silent from years of practice sneaking around, whereas Espurr's was more attributed to the way she seemed to glide along on a daily basis with little impact with the earth necessary. My own movement held a similar biological advantage. We would not be heard tonight.

The plaza was devoid of life when we arrived. Espurr said she couldn't detect anyone's signatures nearby, and we determined that the other group must've gone ahead of us. When I suggested they might've just overslept, she said that she would've sensed them in their houses.

Once we got on the school path, we relaxed a little bit realizing that the village residence was well out of earshot.

"So, have either of you ever snuck out before?" I asked them both, wanting to strike up a conversation to break the deafening silence.

"I have," Leah admitted. "I've always been a night owl, so sometimes I'd just be too compelled to go adventuring and squeeze through my window."

"Have you ever been caught?" Espurr asked her.

She coughed before answering. "Once. By my pops. As punishment, he had me harvest the entire year's worth of oran berries that had grown in his fields."

"Sounds like a good time," I joked. Leah had shown me her pops' oran berry field once a couple weeks ago. It was gigantic, with plenty of berries to keep the entire village alive for a noticable period of time. If not for its amazingly well-hidden location, it would've become victim to the pillaging to bandits and ferals long ago. Harvesting the whole thing alone must've taken a couple weeks, at least.

"Oh, it was a great time," she answered with an equal amount of satire, the chuckling response serving as a brief hiatus in the terror she had shown on this night. "I still continued to sneak out every now and then, though. Before we got our badges, I never really had much cause to get good sleep anyway."

We continued to make small talk as we walked down the path to the school. It only took a few minutes of walking for the school entrance to come into view, and we dipped behind the large boulder in front of it to get a better view. We could barely see the outlines of Pancham, Shelmet, Deerling, and Goomy in the minimal lighting, but it was enough to confirm they had made it here before us. We couldn't see any weird-looking flames or ghost-like figures, so we anticipated that it was safe. For now.

"There you guys are!" Pancham barked at us as we passed through the gate. "You're like twenty minutes late!"

"How did you get past the gate? I assumed the school locked it every night." Espurr replied, ignoring his banter.

"We used the tip of Shelmet's helmet to pick the lock," Deerling giggled, making Shelmet blush in embarrassment. "You should've seen the look on his face as we turned him upside-down and lodged the door open!"

"Come on, it wasn't that funny!" Shelmet whimpered, making everyone laugh at his embarrassment.

Although the mood had been lightened a bit by our arrival, it wasted no time darkening again when we each took a seat at our desks. We all fell under the influence of stone-cold silence, and nobody was quite sure what to say or do. It would finally be broken by Deerling, who was shifting in her seat restlessly.

"So... what now?"

Pancham answered her without hesitation. "We wait for the ghosts, that's what."

"Seriously?" Leah complained. "We snuck out of our homes in the middle of the night just to wait?"

"Well, it's not like we know where they're at," Pancham argued.

The unamused Fennekin huffed in discontent, but spoke no further. I was about to try and strike a conversation with her when I heard a sizzling in my brain and felt the familiar sensation of telepathy spanning my consciousness. A conversation with my psychic-type companion was fine too.

" _What do you make of all this?"_ I was asked.

 _"I don't know,"_ I answered back. _"We know the ghosts are real, and they're somehow related to the school, but there doesn't seem to be anything here. Can you sense anything?"_

It took a moment for Espurr to reply. _"If I concentrate hard enough, I can sense some level of atmospheric charge in the area."_

 _"What do you mean by that?"_

 _"It's difficult to explain, but it's almost like the area is being blanketed by a thin veil of negativity... like something is about to happen. The presence of ghost-type Pokemon on the prowl tend to lead to situations like this. I just can't seem to find the source... perhaps because my abilities still require a bit of development. I'll let you know if I feel something."_

After a few moments passed following this mental exchange, I turned to my partner. She was anxiously ducking her head down, unwilling to meet my concerned stare.

"How are you holding up?" I whispered.

"W-well enough," she quietly murmured. "Usually the dark isn't a problem for me, but I swear this ghost stuff just doesn't sit well."

"Yeah, I admit I'm a little on edge too," I said. "Will you be able to fight if some kind of violent encounter happens?"

"Y-yeah," she croaked. "No problem. I got your back if you got mine."

I nodded affirmatively. "Hopefully it doesn't come to that."

"Yeah..." She put her head between her paws and rested it on her desk.

Poor girl... she was so out of her element in this dark place surrounded by rumors of her nightmares. I wanted to comfort her, but there really wasn't much I could do besides what little I'd already said.

I glanced around, and then up at the sky. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to come out here after all...

We sat in relative silence for about ten minutes longer before Deerling had finally run out of patience.

"This is ridiculous," she huffed. "Come on guys, let's go home."

"You can't leave yet!" Pancham exclaimed as the pink deer rose from her desk. "We haven't solved the mystery!"

"I don't even know why we agreed to come out here in the first place. All we're doing is sitting here!" Deerling ranted. "Come on Goomy, let's go."

Goomy slowly nodded and got off his seat to follow her. Pancham stood up too, but made no move to stop them. Evidently defeated, he uttered an irritated grumble before suddenly shouting out obscenities at the supposed ghosts. "Come on you freaks! You stupid ghosts don't scare us! Stop being such wimps and show yourselves!"

Leah sharply gasped, and she began to mumble bits of frightened encouragement to herself. Deerling adopted an expression of bewilderment and Goomy one of unbound terror.

"Stop!" Deerling snarled in a hushed tone. "Are you nuts!?"

"Yeah man, you gotta chill!" Shelmet said with wide eyes. "We don't actually want to fight them, do we?"

Pancham ignored them both. "Hey-y-y! Y'all ain't scary! Show yourselves!"

"Shut up Pancham!" Leah cried. The panda Pokemon stopped his tirade and waited for a few seconds. When nothing happened, his shoulders slumped.

"Alright, fine," he sighed. "I guess this really was a waste of time. Let's get out of he-"

 _Hot..._

Everyone froze.

Was that imagined? Or was it one of us that said that?

 _So hot..._

No, that was definitely not one of us.

"Uhhh..." Pancham stammered. "What's goi-"

His voice cut off at the horrifying sight that materialized before him. A fireball, purplish in color, formed from thin air and snuffed the syllables right out of his throat. The embers that licked the dreadful midnight air almost appeared artificial as they did very little to brighten the surrounding area. He stared at it, muscles ridden with fear, unable to move. Several more fireballs of the same nature fabricated in a rough circle surrounding the desks. The ghostly flames hovered in place, observing us scramble to make sense of the anomaly. The scene was locked in a standoff for several seconds, the class too terrified to react.

Then the fireball closest to Pancham exploded in a sizzling display of fireworks, forcefully knocking him back into his desk.

Then all hell broke loose.

I kicked my chair out from under me, sending myself sprawling backwards as a slew of embers dispatched over my head, missing me by inches. I immediately rolled to the side as another flame burst catapulted into the ground beside me, spreading the flames outward and striking me with some of the entrails. I suppressed the urge to nurse the searing pain that materialized in my left leg and shoulder, and bounced to my feet to orchestrate a retaliation.

I spun myself in a circle using my tail as leverage, collecting bits of grass and leaves in my twirl. A small tornado was formed and thrown at the purple fireball just as another burst of flame was sent my way, impacting my other shoulder this time. The sacrifice was worth it, however; my attack landed squarely and caused the fireball to become discombobulated. I thought I saw a flash of white from where it burned, and I could've sworn I heard an exclamation of pain as the sharpened greenery of the leaf tornado cut through my target. I made the mistake of taking a moment to hesitate, and I was met with an instant retaliation that forced me to hit the dirt in order to avoid the new wave of approaching flames.

"Form a circle! Organize!" I heard a distant voice cry out, probably Espurr's.

I briefly caught a glimpse of the classroom-turned-battlefield, and I could tell that any conception of collective coordination would be of no use. Everyone was scattered around and in complete disarray from the surprise attack. Espurr and Deerling were each grappling with a "ghost", Espurr looking focused and collected and Deerling looking anything but. Goomy had packed himself under his desk, where he resolved to hide for the rest of his life. Pancham and Shelmet were nowhere to be found. And Leah...

I spotted her, and my heart skipped a beat. She was frozen in place, paralyzed by fear, as the fireball nearest her began to expand. I swung a vine behind me to swat away the enemy I was still occupied with, and pivoted in her direction.

 _Move, Leah!_ I mentally screamed at her. _Move out of the way!_

It was no use. Her nerves were lost in another realm and she couldn't have dodged if she tried.

In some ridiculous culmination of courage and stupidity, I lunged at her mortified figure. I couldn't really specify what happened after that, not that I was in a position to try and make comprehensions. I just remembered connecting with her body and distributing the force of my leap into her petrified form, sending her tumbling to the side as the approaching blast erupted where she had just been standing.

Where I was now standing.

I think someone might've called out my name, but at that point the pain had hit me like a missile and my vision instantly went white.

* * *

"Get... berry... here... nursery... now..."

A pair of ringing ears trying to relay bits of information to a brain already overwhelmed by an upside-down sleep schedule and a manifold of screaming nerves.

This about summed up my physical state when consciousness half-summoned me. I certainly couldn't open my eyes, God forbid I do that and flood my head with even more stimuli. Maybe if I just laid here and imagined myself a human again, the unpleasantness would all go away. Maybe I could just float on a cloud where I could sleep it all into oblivion.

Something was placed in my jaw, and I was forced to chew it. Even though I could feel this being done, it felt like it was happening light years away. I felt an ice-cold paste in my mouth. Some kind of berry? It... it tasted kind of like rawst... yeah, definitely rawst. What was rawst for? Cough? No... wait, burns! Rawst heals burns! ...But when did I get burned?

I began to piece back together what had happened. We snuck out. Then... then we went to the school. And... Pancham started yelling and...

My eyes shot open, the entire recollection flooding back into my head. I tried to quickly sit up, but a spike of pain shot up my back and I gave up on the motion. I briefly assessed my current predicament. I was laying on the table in Audino's nursery, wrapped up in bandages, surrounded by my worried friends. And everything hurt.

Leah, Deerling, and Goomy were standing over me, all looking absolutely ridden with dread. My vision was still blurry, but I could see the redness in their eyes that indicated they had, at some point, been crying. Well, Leah was actually still crying.

"He's awake!" Deerling exclaimed.

I tried to speak, but all that came out was an anguished grunt.

"S-Sage?" my partner choked.

"Just give him a bit of space," Deerling instructed her worriedly. "He doesn't look too good..."

I tried speaking again, this time having a little more success. "Wh-" I muttered hoarsely. "Where's everyone else?"

"Pancham and Shelmet were, um..." Deerling began before clearing her throat to suppress a sniffle of her own. "They were taken away... by the ghosts. Espurr was right on their tail, chasing after them. The three of us stayed behind to care for you."

"H-how long have I been out for?"

"About an hour," Deerling told me, pointing outside at the still-blackened sky. She put on an even more distraught face, and continued. "We were worried you weren't gonna... you know... wake up."

"Oh..." I replied, the sound coming out barely discernible from a cough. I turned my head to face my partner, who was visibly breaking down. "Leah, did that blast hit you too?"

She hesitated before shaking her head. "N-no," she whimpered. "Y-you jumped in front and... you're a grass-type, and... I'm so sorry!" She was sobbing now.

Then Deerling's words registered. An hour had already passed. I realized that if we wanted to save Pancham and Shelmet, we would probably need to make haste after Espurr to make up for the time we'd already lost. As much as I felt bad for the poor Fennekin right now, this was no time to be breaking down.

"Leah. You've got to relax, alright? It's okay." I comforted her. The feeling in my joints had mostly returned, and my voice was already halfway back to normal, so that at least helped with talking. And it legitimized the assumption that I probably wasn't injured beyond basic repair, most of which was probably already facilitated by the rawst berries and the bandages.

"No it's not okay!" Leah wailed. "I said I would be able to fight the ghosts... that I'd have your-"

"We don't have time to worry about that right now," Goomy, of all Pokemon, interrupted. "We need a solution, not another problem."

"He's right," I coughed. "We've got no choice but to go after Espurr and search the area for any signs of them."

"There's no need for that," a soft voice cut through our disarray. We all turned towards the door and saw Espurr standing there in the dim moonlight.

"Espurr!" Deerling exclaimed. "Did you find them?"

Espurr nodded slowly. "I know where they went, but... you probably won't like it." She then turned her attention to me, her round pupils widening in genuine concern. "Sage, are you alright?"

"Define 'alright'," I grunted as I experimented with sitting up. "For real though, I think I'll be okay..."

"In a few days, perhaps." Espurr said. "Right now you don't look too good..."

"None of us do," I responded. It was true, everyone in the room had looked worse for wear, exhibiting a cruel mixture of fear and injury. Mostly it was just a few scratches and mild burns, but it was enough to call our group raggedy and unkempt. Pancham and Shelmet's kidnapping aside, it would've still been laughable to claim we had won the fight.

I slid off the table, stumbling a bit when I hit the ground. Leah was right there to support me, making sure I didn't completely collapse.

"Sage, you've got to rest!" she cried, trying unsuccessfully to coax me back onto the table.

"Espurr," Deerling said, turning to the feline. "Where is Pancham and Shelmet?"

"They were taken to..." Espurr started, before suddenly hesitating, appearing uncertain whether she should continue. We were all unnerved by this; usually Espurr was so stoic and disregarding of danger. She was so consistently straightforward that it was a little uncanny at times. It was entirely against her nature to hesitate before unveiling something.

"...to the Ancient Barrow."

Uh oh. I'd heard about the Ancient Barrow a few times, from either the villagers gossiping about its backstory or the teachers instructing us to maintain a fair distance. In a village where hardly anything happens, it was apparently an interesting bit of its history that was considered too dreadful to be indulged.

The place in question had snatched my curiosity ever since the first time I took in the view atop the hill with the big tree. By the lake was the purple remains of a tree that was likely once just as grand as the one I had been standing under at the time. I really couldn't have missed it if I tried; the darkened indication of death so contrasted the entire rest of the village. I had wondered why such an ugly corpse wasn't chopped down and removed from the area, if not for the material then for the sake of removing a stain from the wonderful view from the hill.

Then I had seen the door. Two metallic slabs were hinged onto the tree, the dull coloration slightly blending with that of the bark. At first I was confused, and thought that maybe it was some old hermit's house. Hearing the ominous talks about the place, however, would come to disperse the thought.

In summary, it was no place for anyone to even go near, child or adult. The audible gasps that echoed around the room upon Espurr's punctuation conformed to this.

"But how...?" Leah whispered. "The doors..."

"They were swung wide open when I arrived," Espurr said. "I didn't go in. I figured I'd come back and discuss what our next move would be."

"Should we wait until morning and get the adults?" Goomy asked.

"We can't do that," Leah plainly answered. "Remember what happened last time? With Budew?"

"It's true," I concurred, voice still raspy but having now gained a tone of modesty. "Even though I rushed out immediately, I still barely got there in time. Waiting until morning gives those things more than enough time to do their bidding with Pancham and Shelmet."

"Does anyone disagree?" Espurr asked. When she was met with silence, she nodded. "Alright, that's that. We're headed after them."

"I don't... I mean... Are you sure?" Deerling stammered nervously. "Ancient Barrow is forbidden-"

"So is the school, according to Simipour," Leah argued. "And look where we are."

"Yeah, gee! Look where we are!" Deerling snapped at her. "We're beaten up and missing two Pokemon! What if- what if they're..."

"Regardless, I'm afraid we're out of options," Espurr's sigh interrupted what would've been an unproductive tangent. "We should head out now before the ghosts can widen the gap and set up some sort of defense." She turned to walk out the door, and waved for us to follow. "Whoever is coming, follow me... Sage, you should probably-"

"No," I interjected, already knowing what she was going to suggest. "If you guys are going after Pancham and Shelmet, then I'm going too."

"You can't fight in that condition!" Deerling exclaimed, irritated I would suggest such a stupid thing. To be honest, she was probably right. But whether she was or not, I really could have cared less. I wasn't sitting this out with what was at stake.

 _Since when did I care so much about others? Why is it that I feel so strongly about this even though I should be too caught up with trying to figure out why I'm in this world?_

It didn't matter now. Not when time was of the essence.

"Yes, I can!" I snapped. "If I can walk, I can fight!"

"Sage, you can't!" Leah cried. "Please, just take a moment and look at yourself!"

I took her advice with the intention of proving her wrong, and stared down at my body. A fair bit of it was bandaged in a rudimentary fashion, but the parts that weren't, I had to admit, did not look pleasant. I was bruised and burned all over, most of it on my right side where I took the brunt of the force. Although it wasn't anything fatal, it looked considerably worse than anyone else in the room. Regardless, I wasn't going to relent that easily.

"I-I'm not mortally wounded," I tried to assure everyone, the tone of my voice unfortunately doing little to help. "It's just a few burns! It's nothing!"

"Dude, you got hit by an explosion point-blank," Goomy said dryly. "You really should stay here."

"And what if more ghosts come along? Isn't this supposed to be their playground?" I countered. "I'm not staying here, and I'm certainly not going back home where I could get found out... look, we don't have time for this!" I balanced myself and took a couple steps toward Espurr. "If Espurr's description is accurate, we've gotta go right now!"

Leah still didn't buy it. "There's no way I'm letting you-"

I put a vine on her shoulder, silencing her. "I'll be fine. Trust me."

She stared me in the eyes, considering. Finally, she reluctantly consented. "Fine. But if you die, I'll kill you."

"Deal."

"Oh, this is a terrible plan..." Deerling muttered with blatant acquiescence. "But I guess it's the only way forward... Goomy, you at least ought to head home."

"No, Deerling!" he shouted, surprising her. "I'm not sitting out when I can still contribute!"

"Contribute by being a witness then, in case something happens to us!" Deerling snapped back at him. "Know your limits!"

"What makes you think you know my limits!?" Goomy retorted fiercely.

Deerling was about to shoot a cross reply back at him when my commanding voice rang out over their quarrel.

"Shut the hell up!" I ordered them, causing them both to halt and stare at me, mouths hanging open with unfinished retorts. I eyed them both for a moment, took a deep breath, and continued. "We've all already wasted way too much time arguing! I get that we care about each other and don't want anyone else getting hurt, but it's too late for all of that. Either pull yourselves together and follow us, or _both_ of you can go home!"

Goomy went silent, staring at the ground with the shame of being chastised. Deerling, clearly dissatisfied, grumbled to herself under her breath. Fortunately, though, she made no effort to exalt the conflict. The matter was settled for everyone.

"Do we have supplies?" Espurr asked. "We'll probably need them."

Leah chimed in, voice slightly recovered from her previous emotional breakdown. "I threw some in a bag while you were all screaming at each other," she said, holding it up and displaying the contents. Piled inside was a multitude of oran, pecha, and rawst berries, and also a couple of reviver seeds and blast seeds. "I guess I shouldn't be stealing from Nurse Audino's supplies and all, but I think this one time can be overlooked given the circumstances."

Nobody could argue with that. I nodded at her, and then at Espurr, affirming we were ready.

"Let's go," she gestured at us, already out the door. "We've got no more time to waste."

* * *

It baffled me that the darkness beyond the metal doors could eclipse the darkness that came naturally with the minimal moonlight. I was glad that Leah had the foresight to grab a large stick conveniently sitting by the roadside to use as a torch, or else we'd have no chance in there. The ghosts had the advantage of being literal sources of light, if they even needed light to see at all. Other than Espurr's natural psychic awareness, we'd have been blind without that torch that we'd have to keep lit in order to see.

With our visibility problem solved, now we just had to muster the courage to enter this forbidden tree stump. Where before it had stood out among the greens and blues of Serene Village at high noon, now it sat in its rightful place as a proprietor of the surrounding darkness. I was beginning to understand why Espurr was so hesitant to lead us here. Considering I hadn't even seen the inside yet, this understanding was dreadfully foreboding.

"A-alright," Leah whispered, mostly to me. "Are we gonna do this right now?"

"I guess we are," I whispered back.

"Let's head in," Espurr said in a monotone voice. "Follow me closely. It is imperative that we don't get split up."

The thought of being left alone at a time like this was enough to propel everyone forward. When we crossed the barrier into the barrow, we discovered that it was more like a cave system that burrowed deep into the earth. It was dark and lengthy, but at least it wasn't cramped together like Gabite's cave was. As we entered, the atmosphere drastically converted from the peaceful outdoors into a blanket of compressed foreboding. This must've been what Espurr had mentioned earlier at the school, only this time it was defined enough for even regular Pokemon to heed its omnipresence.

It didn't take us long to figure out that the place was a mystery dungeon. The weird patterns and the fact that wild Pokemon dwelled in the sealed labyrinth was enough for us to catch on. My usual role taking point for the group was temporarily revoked and replaced with Espurr, with Leah insisting that I couldn't possibly lead the pack in the state I was in. I was a bit humiliated being reduced to simply holding a torch so that everyone else could see and fight, but I decided I'd have to suck it up and do my duty if we were going to get through this forbidden labyrinth unharmed. If Leah had been the one who got hit by that blast, I'd have probably insisted she do the same.

The gravity that already had us on our toes was intensified by the irregular nature of the darkness we treaded. The torch that I held was our lifeline, but it absolutely riddled our perspectives with nightmarish illusion. The embers flickered, extending and receding the circumference of our view distance at incalculable rates, which the darkness utilized to play games with our minds. Every couple dozen seconds, someone would jump or murmur or gasp at something they could've sworn they saw at the very edge of their vision. At first, we would wave the torch in the direction of whatever someone would visualize this heart-stopping movement, only to find that nothing was there.

I hated it. I thoroughly hated it, because it frightened me to no end. Knowing it was an illusion didn't even help, because we all knew we couldn't let our guard down regardless of the darkness's cruel sensual invasion. Even Espurr was starting to expose her misgivings by fidgeting nervously every so often.

With this constantly on our minds, it was hard to appreciate that the wild Pokemon really weren't posing a huge problem for the five of us. Our group was well-rounded enough to deal with any feral aggressors, even with me stanning by and watching. I got a good couple of swats in with my vines on a few occasions, but most of my journey through the barrow would consist of making sure everyone could see with the torch I held.

"I guess it's my turn to ask how you're holding up," Leah whispered to me after a few minutes, low enough that nobody else could hear. "You seem fine, but are you really fine?"

"I'm holding up well enough," I whispered back. "If you ask me, what the Beedrill did was worse." I glanced around briefly, scanning the shadows. "This place is creeping me out, though. I feel like we're constantly being watched..."

"I-I feel it too." She said it with a cracked voice. "I don't think I can take much more of this."

"Neither can I," I quietly confessed. "I hope we can just find Pancham and Shelmet and high-tail it out of here."

"You can say that again..."

When a light appeared in the distance ahead of us, we momentarily wrote if off as a trick of the eyes. When we realized it was actually real, we picked up our speed, pining to reach a conclusion to the screaming darkness that clouded our senses. The dim light revealed to us a large circular room with a high ceiling. The entire thing was lit by little crystals embedded in the walls, giving the space an ominous glow that refracted off the rugged walls. We emerged into the room, looking around and trying to make sense of it.

"There's no tunnel anywhere that leads further in," Deerling observed as we all looked around. "So, does that mean this is the end of the dungeon?"

"I believe it is," Espurr commented. "The culprits must be nearby, hiding in the shadows."

Leah looked at her funny. "But there are no shadows..." she said, confused. "Even though it's really dim, the whole room is lit up, so there's nowhere to hide."

Five hearts stopped beating for half a second from the fright of a voice beckoning us from every direction.

 _"Don't be so naive. We are hiding right under your noses, hee hee!"_

It was unmistakably the same voice that had been calling out 'so very hot' in the schoolyard.

"Circle up, now!" I hissed. The five of us scrambled into a pentagonal formation, leaving little space between us so each could gain a wider angle of view. It was the only formation that could be effectively set up, considering the voice we heard didn't come from any particular spot in the room. It's source seemed like it came from everywhere at once, and none of us had any clue why.

"Give us our friends back!" Deerling ordered. She hurled her demand in no particular direction, swinging her head from side to side trying to locate something to take aim at.

 _"You fools,"_ the voice called out from every edge of the room. _"I am the Dark Land Emissary. You dare trespass on this hallowed land?"_

"The Dark Land?" Deerling exclaimed. "What are you even-"

 _"You have come to a forbidden place. No one has ever returned from these depths before. However... I will allow you misguided children to depart, on one condition..."_

Depart on one condition? That meant we could potentially escape without a fight, right? With the mentally, physically, and emotionally fatigued integrity of our group in question, negotiating our way out of this situation was priority one. Avoiding a fight was the way to go if this was going to work out right.

In the center of the room there was suddenly two purple pulsations forming in midair, and we all just barely stopped ourselves from impulsively launching attacks at it. The pair of spherical energy fields were suspended a dozen feet from the ground, each just big enough to hold a small body. The petrified forms of Pancham and Shelmet were trapped inside them, and we all rushed forward at the horrifying sight. Their eyes lit up when they saw us below.

"Guys?" Shelmet squeaked. "Is that you?"

"What is this thing? Some kind of prison?" I frantically asked.

"I-I don't know," Pancham answered. "Just figure out a way to get us out, please!"

"On it," Deerling said before turning her head to the ceiling, directing her next statement at our unseen opponents. "What was that 'one condition' you needed, you stupid ghosts?"

 _"All I need from you..."_ the distant voice echoed. _"Is to grant me the spirits of these two. If you can do that, you may leave this place unharmed."_

So much for avoiding a fight.

"Not on your life!" Leah screamed. "They're our friends! Give them back before we take them back!"

 _"Have it your way then..."_

The voice dissipated into the dank air of the barrow. Replacing its presence was the tangible emergence of a dozen white squishy blobs from the dancing shadows on the ground. Each one sported a familiar purplish flame on its head that burned on a wick. A pair of yellow eyes were positioned on the upper half of each midget candle, providing them further personification.

"I guess these are our ghosts then," Espurr said. "Everyone stay on your toes. The type advantage is not in our collective favor."

I assessed our squad, and gravely conceded that she was correct. From what we had observed, we were clearly dealing with some kind of fire and ghost type, and that particular combination easily exposed our already hampered defense and also held up stoically against our offense. Espurr and Leah could at least do damage with psybeam, but the rest of us lacked the range and coverage to do anything other than chip away at them. Not to mention they outnumbered us, which would make doing so much more tedious.

The negatives just kept stacking up. We would not win this unscathed, that much was obvious. Oh, why did it always have to be a fight?

Almost as soon as they emerged, they began readying ranged attacks. Espurr took the initiative and zapped one of them with a charge beam before it could launch its flame burst. Not all of us had the reaction speed and range that Espurr had, however, and several blasts of fire was sent towards our circle. The formation was shattered instantly for the sake of dodging the incoming attacks, and the battle would begin in a scattered fashion similar to the one that played out at the school.

With our formation broken, I was instantly in a bad position. I was already forced to deal with the wrong end of a bad type matchup, but this time around I would have to get by with a body considerably weakened from the previous fight. With everyone scattering and the ghosts assaulting us with ranged bullets of flame, there was nowhere for me to hide. It was easy for me to let Leah and Espurr and sometimes Deerling cover for me on my way down here, but now we were outnumbered and surrounded. I would have no choice but to fight straight up, battered and bandaged as I was.

When I felt my first vine whip land a direct hit on the closest Litwick, some of my initial worries were lifted when I felt it snap on a solid surface. Residue of the white wax it connected with oozed off onto my swinging vine, causing the candle Pokemon to cry out in pain. I could not relish in the satisfaction of the blow, however, as the wax was incredibly hot and a burning sensation encompassed where the white substance coated the tendril.

"Ahh, hot!" I cried out as I whipped the vine in the air to get the stuff off. There wasn't much on it, but it was hot as hell, and I could feel the cells on the end of the vine reacting violently to it.

As if on cue, Espurr called out to us in the heat of battle. "Be careful! Their flame bodies are hot to the touch!"

I caught a glimpse of her as she fought several Litwick at once. Although she was holding her own well enough, she had evidently discovered how hot the ghosts' bodies were through firsthand experience, just as I unfortunately did.

Then I suddenly remembered my partner's deep-ridden fears about confronting ghosts. I swung my head around in panic to make sure she wasn't petrified again, only to find her focused and engaged in an intense brawl with two of the Litwick. She was finessing them both, striking with power and avoiding most of the returned blows. And she looked absolutely furious, seasoning every attack with red-hot rage. Maybe she was giving herself motivation to face her fears through anger? ...Or perhaps she's just mad that these things knocked me out earlier. The source of her rage honestly didn't matter as long as what she was doing was clearly working.

I heard a sizzling sound to my left, and I realized my mistake. I had stared too long after Leah, and my own Litwick had more than enough time to recover from my previous blow and counterattack. I dropped to the ground to dodge, but not before a shadow ball was sent my way. It clipped me just above my left eyelid before I could duck completely out of range.

It wasn't a fatal blow, and although a trickle of blood temporarily blocked my eye, it wasn't of enough concern to treat right now.

I hopped up off the ground and hobbled straight at the Litwick as it readied the flame on its head for another attack. My balance momentarily hindered by the previous attack hitting my head - where a fair portion of my body weight was situated - I was forced to improvise. I whipped out a blast seed and bit down hard at point-blank range, sending the ghost type flying into a distant wall. The recoil from the seed's explosion out of my mouth snapped my head back awkwardly, and I stumbled for a second to regain my balance.

"Doesn't feel very good getting blown up, does it?" I taunted. Unfortunately for me, my voice came out as little more than a breathy gasp, eliminating the badass effect I was aiming for. It sounded cool in my head, at least.

I popped an oran berry and made my way over to Espurr, who was currently occupied with three of the ghosts. She had already taken out three of them, but the fact that three more still targeted her was likely a result of her defensive disadvantage paired with her supposedly-amazing offensive display at the school following my loss of consciousness. The ghosts seemed to have a strategy, and that strategy was to remove the big threats, starting with Espurr. Maybe that's why only one of them attacked me, because I got knocked out like fifteen seconds into the fight when we were at the school. It wasn't necessarily my fault that it happened the way it did, and it certainly wasn't like I got beaten in a one-on-one fight. But with my current condition considered, there was no room to be insulted when I could now hardly even handle one of them at once.

Despite Espurr's consistency of success thus far, she was in a state of blatant distress as she fought to gain a favorable edge over all three enemies. She was forced to try and discover an opportunity to strike while simultaneously dodging their attacks and suppressing the pain of a nasty burn on her cheek. I swung my tail around in a circle and began generating a tornado of leaves, intending to help her out.

"Heads up!" I called out.

She caught sight of me in her peripheral vision and, after shooting one last psybeam, jumped out of the way as my grass-type attack barreled through the surrounding space. It wasn't very effective, but it subdued the three Litwick just long enough for Espurr to quickly pick two of them off with psybeams.

The one that was still remaining prepared a shadow ball that was aimed at me. I was slightly off balance after using leaf tornado, and I realized I wouldn't be able to sidestep in time. Using the momentum from the spinning I did in my previous attack, I planted a foot in the ground and spun right around the shadow ball as it flew past me. It was such a close call that I could literally feel the air on my back swish as the ball of energy passed by.

I had already extended a vine to meet the Litwick as I finished my rotatation, feeling the satisfaction of its connection and sending it tumbling across the floor. More of the wax oozed onto my vine, which I quickly slung off as its searing heat pinched the surface.

"Not bad for a cripple," Espurr teased as we assessed our handiwork.

"I'm not crippled. I'm just a little... inconvenienced," I joked back.

We looked around and saw that the other handful of Litwick had been taken care of thanks to the handiwork of Leah and an exhausted Deerling. It looked like even Goomy got a few good shots in.

Out of breath as we were, we were not even given a moment to recollect ourselves before the atmosphere abruptly went frigid. A chill was sent up everyone's spine, and the voice from before rang out again.

 _"Fools!"_ it bellowed. _"I am the Dark Land Emissary! You will not defy me, lest you experience an eternity of pain!"_

"Your minions have been defeated," Espurr stated calmly. "You have no premise to make threats unless you reveal yourself."

 _"It would be my pleasure!"_

A bright green light shone from the center of the room, lighting everything up and making us shield our eyes. When the light had died down and we were able to look again, something stood before us that simply didn't make any sense.

It was gigantic. Just... gigantic.

A yellowish-gray quadrupedal monster towered above us, red highlights donning its tall abdomen and a pair of jet black wings extending from its shoulder blades. It's feet were probably the most proportionally massive thing about it, with each claw being just a bit shorter than the length of my entire body.

This monstrosity before our bewildered group effectively explained the tall ceiling. I had never seen a Pokemon this big before. It was ridiculous to even look at, and now we were going to have to fight it?

 _"I am the Dark Land Emissary!"_ the monster boomed. _"I am Giritina!"_

Giritina... I could recall a lecture about him during a lesson in school. This thing was a dragon and ghost type, and it came from a world parallel to ours where gravity is skewed by negativity itself, or something like that. Oh, and it's apparently a legendary Pokemon.

A legendary Pokemon. Right in front of us. Promising us an eternity of pain.

Shit... we really should've just stayed home tonight.

 _"Cower before me, mortals! Prepare for your judgement!"_

It opened its mouth, and we all anticipated an attack. Instead of some fatal beam of darkness raining down on us, however, a pinkish pulse was shot out of its lower midsection. It was a psywave attack, so still worth dodging, but certainly not the life-ending threat we all expected. Didn't legendary Pokemon typically use ground-shaking attacks like hyper beam and earthquake?

We all stared at the beast, much of our terror replaced by confusion before it could completely seep in. I saw Espurr furrowing her eyebrows, thinking intensely about something. "Giritina shouldn't even be able to learn psywave..." she muttered just loud enough for me to hear.

 _"Fear me!"_ Giritina shouted, now shooting a shock wave from its chest. Espurr's psybeam met the shock wave midair, and it disintegrated the electric attack effortlessly.

"You're pretty, um, weak for a legendary Pokemon," Goomy said.

"That's because it's not a legendary Pokemon at all," Espurr said, catching our attention. "The Giritina before us is a phoney. An illusion created by a lesser being."

 _"How dare you!"_ the monster replied crossly. _"I am the Dark Land Emissary! I'll teach you to-"_

"Oh, just give it up Solosis!"

We all turned around to find most of the Litwick had reorganized themselves while we were occupied with this "Giritina". But they had not organized into a battle formation, instead approaching us casually and peacefully.

The Litwick that had just interrupted the illusionist's bellowing spoke again. "Solosis, it's over. They figured us out."

The menacing form of Giritina vanished instantly into thin air. Replacing the largest Pokemon I had ever imagined was one of the smallest I had ever seen. Floating a foot off the ground was a green transparent blob that resembled an enlarged cell. Its two black eyes were squeezed shut, and tears were running down them and mixing with the inside of its cytoplasmic body. The "Dark Land Emissary" was just a kid, and he was now crying.

"I'm sorry!" he wailed. "I tried my best! I really did!"

"Hey, no need to cry," one of the Litwick comforted him. "You did great! Sometimes people just don't get fooled by even the greatest of tricks, you know?"

"Y-you think so?" Solosis sniffled.

"Uh, hey," Deerling interrupted. "Would you mind giving us an explanation?"

"Ah, yes," the Litwick said. "I suppose you deserve a full explanation. You see, understand that we Litwick gather energy from scaring other Pokemon. Through harmless pranks and vague tricks of the five senses, we can generate fearful reactions from others that we can gobble up!"

"Gobble up fear? How does that even work?" I asked.

"It's spiritual stuff," he replied dryly. "You probably wouldn't understand any of it."

"Uh huh..."

"Hey, you said 'harmless' pranks!" Deerling exclaimed irritably. "But what part of tonight was 'harmless'? You nearly killed us, like twice!"

"Yeah, we know that now, and we're sorry," he said, all of the Litwick looking quite crestfallen with the critisism of their actions. "You see, Pokemon just haven't been getting scared of us anymore... We'd go hungry at times, and it was getting unbearable. So we began using more forceful methods to scare our targets to combat the hunger. We're really sorry, clearly this wasn't a good decision... We swear we won't do it again. Please forgive us!"

He didn't exactly have knees, but if he did he would probably be kneeling right now. His begging might've come much too late for any damage to be prevented, but it held sincerity that promised it was not a repetitive phrase they utilized when caught.

"What does this Solosis here have to do with it?" Espurr asked.

Another Litwick came forth to speak. "I found Solosis alone in the forest one day, abandoned. We've all been living together ever since, traveling and scaring folks along the way. He's so good at creating illusions that we're able to team up and trick anyone! But... I guess not you guys, huh?"

"Nope!" Espurr cheerfully replied.

"Alright," I said. "I guess we'll forgive you then."

"What?" Leah scoffed in a low voice. "Why should we do that?"

"They're peaceful now," I pointed out. "They apologized and supplied reasoning for their actions. Even if tonight wasn't justified, what else can we do? This isn't worth holding a grudge."

She stared at me, or more specifically my injuries, and wistfully huffed. "Fine. If that's what you think... then I'm with you."

I nodded and smiled. "That's better."

"Can we have Pancham and Shelmet back?" Deerling asked.

"Oh! I completely forgot!" Litwick exclaimed. "Your friends are unharmed." He turned to the floating cell. "Solosis, if you will?"

Solosis nodded and shined with a bright lime-green light, causing the two purple field of energy from before to appear. Just as soon as they materialized were they dissolved into thin air. Pancham and Shelmet fell from where they were once suspended, and hit the ground with a thud.

"Ow, my face!" sounded Pancham's muffled groan.

"Are you guys alright?" Goomy exclaimed.

"Yeah, we-" Pancham's speech was halted when he and Shelmet saw the condition of our group. "Wh-what happened to you guys? You all look terrible!"

"Rough night," Leah vaguely answered. "Let's talk about it tomorrow. Anyone got an escape orb?"

"Allow me," one of the Litwick said, pulling one out. "It's yours. It couldn't possibly make up for all of this, but it's the least we could do."

I took it and nodded thanks. "Gather 'round," I told everyone. We all formed a circle, and I raised the orb into the air and smashed it.

* * *

"You! You little scumbags!"

Carracosta and Nuzleaf must've discovered we were out and about at some point, and had waited for our return together by the bridge. We were herded into Leah's house where we were about to get roasted alive by her pops. As if the night could get any more stressful.

"Look at yourselves!" Carracosta roared. "You look like you've been run over by a herd of Bouffalant! And for what? Scamperin' around in the dark without a care in the world!"

"Now, now," Nuzleaf nervously intervened. "I reckon it isn't all that big a deal that they been out explorin'." Then he added with a worried face, "But I do reckon you ought to be more careful. You two do look mightily beat up, especially you Sage."

"You're too lenient on these kids!" Carracosta angrily responded.

Before he could continue with his rant, Leah chimed in. "Hey, pops? Listen, a lot has happened tonight and I'm bushed. So... I'm going to bed now."

"Oh no you don't!" her pops bellowed. "You will sit right here and-"

He paused to witness Leah's next move. When Leah said she was "going to bed now", she literally meant "now". She was curled up on the carpet where she had just been standing at attention as I still was, sound asleep. I guess the stress of the night had really drained her.

Or she was just taking the easy way out of a proper scolding, which meant...

"Alright then!" Carracosta yelled. "She'll get hers tomorrow, tenfold! As for right now, I'll just have to give you a proper chafing instead, young Sage!"

"Uhh..."

The next hour would consist of my ears being dribbled off by the very angry Carracosta. Nuzleaf took a similar route to Leah's and sounded off to leave as soon as the opportunity arose, leaving me to be lectured alone.

By the time Carracosta was done, I was hardly conscious where I stood. When I was finally dismissed outside, I could make out the pink outline of sunrise. I had been up all night, surrounded by a myriad of stimuli, from pain to fear to blood-rushing action. I'm surprised I even made it as far as my bed, where I collapsed into the depths of an early summer hibernation.


	15. Inevitability

Chapter 15 - Inevitable

"This is still filthy! Look right here!"

"What!? It's completely clean!"

"You've left more uncleaned than cleaned!"

"I cleaned it! So I'm done!"

"Unacceptable! Begin again from the start!"

Poor, poor Leah. I was standing a few feet from the door to her house bearing witness to the audible exchange between the Fennekin and her disgruntled guardian. Her tactics last night that allowed her to avoid that lecture now worked against her, as she was superficially tasked with cleaning as punishment. I had a moment of pity for her, knowing she likely would be occupied for the entire day with her chore, and followed it up with a moment of gratitude that Nuzleaf wasn't a decimal as strict as Carracosta. When I woke up this morning and emerged sluggishly from my room to grab some food, he let me know that he was impressed with my adventurous spirit. He was rather upset that I got myself injured, but he also said he had no other issues with last night. He didn't even ask for details, which I was also grateful for, because at the time, I didn't have the mental strength to so much as form a rational thought.

Now it was the afternoon, and I had gotten a satisfying nap in to ward away the lingering enervation. Last night I had planned on taking a day or two off from Society work considering my condition and the fact that Leah probably wouldn't be immediately available anyway. When I woke up from that nap, however, I felt pretty alright... not exactly energized, but well enough to go on a light mission and get something productive accomplished in the remaining hours of the day.

A light breeze tickled my scales, running between the houses passing by and gently nudging the blades of grass at my feet. The sound of children, likely those still a year or two away from joining the upper classroom, could be heard in the distance on the far side of the lake, engaged in a game that would last until their mothers or Kanghaskan called them in for lunch. The sky was a painted a beautiful shade of sapphire with not a blotch of white in sight, and I stopped for a moment to simply gaze. If there was such thing as a calm after the storm, this must be it. Things were irrevocably peaceful in Serene Village once again.

I strolled down to where the road forks, immersed with the connection orb's ridiculous loading time. The signal in Serene Village was absolutely awful, and although it would always eventually connect, it still irritated me every time the little hourglass sat spinning on the screen for a mesmerizing amount of time just to complete one simple task. Perhaps this wouldn't remain an issue if a trip were to be taken to a more developed area, but for now I would just have to deal with it. Not that I was in any mood to gripe - I was actually feeling quite elated on this day even with the encompassing soreness reverberating through me with every step.

I heard someone call my name, and I looked up to see the entire class hanging around by the trees, signaling for me to come over.

"Hey Sage!" Deerling's voice called from up ahead.

"Hey," I greeted as I approached. "Did you all make it home without any trouble?"

"Yep," Goomy replied. "Nobody had any problems. What about you, Sage?"

"Well..." I began with an awkward chuckle. This would probably be awkward. "Me and Leah might've gotten caught by Carracosta... heh..."

Everyone gasped.

"You got caught?" Pancham exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips and whistling. "Woo- that's a tough break. And by Carracosta no less!"

"Yeah, I got a hell of a lecture, and Leah's cleaning the house as punishment today."

"Sheesh," Shelmet lamented. "How bad was it?"

"Well, Leah fell asleep before she could get yelled at, so I had to hear it alone. It was an... interesting experience."

"In a bad way?" Goomy inquired.

"Yeah, in a bad way."

A thought suddenly popped into my head, and my eyes widened in horror.

"Uh... guys...?" I nervously spoke up. "It just occurred to me that Carracosta might ask around about us sneaking out. What if your parents found out you guys were with us?"

They all looked at me for a moment before all bursting out laughing. I must've looked pretty confused, because Deerling quickly stopped and explained the situation.

"Don't worry about that Sage. We all felt bad about not telling our parents about what we did, so we unanimously decided to come clean to them about last night."

I raised my eyebrows, skeptical that such noble antics would have paid off with a parent like Leah's pops.

"Really?" I said. "On a scale of one-to-ten, how well did that work out?"

"Well..." Deerling began. "My parents were pretty upset with me, but I didn't get punished beyond a mild scolding from my dad. So I'd say a certified ten."

"Easy for you to say..." Pancham grumbled. "My parents nearly chewed my ear off. I give it a three."

"Same," Shelmet said. "Negative seven."

"My parents weren't all that mad about it," Goomy said before someone could question Shelmet's math. "But then my mom started crying, and I felt really bad."

I hummed in neutral acknowledgment before clapping my hands together once and surveying the five of them. "Well, I guess that's that then."

"Yeah, we really aren't too worried about it anymore," Deerling added. "Now that we told them, it's one less thing to worry about, you know?"

"But keep in mind, Sage and Leah didn't come clean," Pancham snickered. "They got caught! Red-handed!"

We all had a good laugh about that.

"Hey, Sage?" Espurr began, speaking for the first time since I'd arrived.

"Hm?"

"What did Nuzleaf think about last night?"

"Nuzleaf?" I rubbed my chin, considering the question. "He said he didn't mind my adventurous spirit as long as I was careful not to get myself fatally hurt. He encouraged me to explore more, actually."

Pancham looked dumbfounded. "Hey, how come my parents ring my ears for sneaking out at night while your... uh... 'dad' literally says you should do it again?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea. He's always so lenient about exploring, but at the same time, he gets serious about maintaining my health. Hey, I'm not complaining."

Espurr considered this for a moment. "Well, Mr. Nuzleaf hasn't actually lived here for all that long. I don't even think it's been a year and a half. And when he did move here from whatever far-south deep country he's from, he would just spend a lot of his time taking trips to the east coast anyway."

"Really?" I remarked, raising my eyebrows. "Has he ever told anyone what he does for a living?" I remembered the couple of business trips he'd been on since he took me in. It suddenly occurred to me that I had forgotten to ask him what his occupation was.

Everyone thought for a moment before each shaking their heads.

"Maybe he's a part-time explorer?" Goomy suggested.

"Hmm," Espurr sounded with an understanding nod. "That would explain his affinity for 'adventurous spirit', as Sage coined it."

Nuzleaf? An explorer? That made a lot of sense actually. It would definitely explain why he seemed so well-paid, and why he was out so deep inside Lush Forest where I had woken up as a Snivy for the first time. Although, I'd think that a well-paid explorer, if anything, would be wary of the dangers in the world that school had constantly drilled into our minds to stay far away from. I had experienced plenty of such dangers already, even before becoming a 'junior' Expedition Society member. I pondered this for a moment.

"Hey Sage, you alright?" Deerling prodded, pulling me from my thoughts. "You kinda spaced out just now."

"My bad," I answered with a yawn. "Just considering what Espurr said, that's all." I cleared my throat to get everyone's undivided attention. "...But speaking of adventuring, I'm headed out to Nectar Meadows to help some lady who lost her child in the flower fields. Anyone interested in tagging along?"

"You're going to Nectar Meadows?" Goomy gasped, a puzzled expression on his face.

"The colony of bees only travel there in the late spring," I informed him. "It's just another dungeon at this time of year."

"But didn't you get bodied by an explosion like not even twenty-four hours ago?" Pancham added. "You're just gonna go exploring anyway?"

I shrugged again, not really seeing the issue. "Why not? Nectar Meadows isn't far, and I'm feeling better after getting some extra sleep."

"Man, I don't get you," Shelmet said. "I've been sleeping all day, but I can still hardly stay awake after running around all night."

"Maybe it's the extra hour of sleep Sage got at the school," Pancham suggested in an obviously jocular tone.

Deerling punched him on the arm with the curve of her hoof, causing him to yelp. "That's so mean Pancham! He got knocked out!"

"Hey, sleep is sleep," I joked back, taking Pancham's side to entertain him. "I was so tired after last night that I really wouldn't have noticed the difference."

"Well, I don't think I'd like to go exploring for a little while after last night," Goomy said. "If you guys want to go without me, that's fine."

"No, I'm staying in the village," Deerling said. "I'm exhausted too, and I'd probably get yelled at again for going into another dungeon so soon. Maybe another day Sage."

"Me too, man," Shelmet followed up. "As much as I'd love to risk my life again for some stupid plan, I'm gonna stay here too."

"Hey!" Pancham exclaimed. "You said my plan was brilliant the entire time up until the ghosts appeared."

"Exactly. When the ghosts actually appeared it was pretty obvious it was time to back out."

"Whatever," Pancham huffed. "Convenient time to change your opinion. Anyway, I'm going to sleep too."

With that, he was shuffling back to his house. I had noticed everyone's eyes were bloodshot from being up all night, so I didn't blame them for still being tired. Everyone else followed suit, heading back to their houses to get some more shut-eye. The only one who didn't go was Espurr, who turned to me and smiled.

"I'd be happy to go exploring," she beamed.

"Thanks Espurr," I replied, returning the warm smile. "But wouldn't your parents get upset?"

She looked at me funny. "Parents? I don't have parents around, silly."

 _Well, that's awkward._

"O-oh," I stammered, the smile from before quickly turning to a scrambled gape. "M-my bad. I didn't know."

"Think nothing of it," she giggled, her speech unfazed by the topic. "It's hard to be remorseful when you're the only one who didn't get yelled at last night."

 _Well, when she puts it that way..._

"So, Nectar Meadows?" she reviewed. "Lost kid?"

"Yeah, a Sewaddle. Probably was playing in the tall flowers or something and couldn't find his way out. It's not too far, so we should be back by sundown."

Espurr's response was a curt nod. I threw some basic items into my bag and we walked through the plaza and out the gate. On the way there, we made small talk, mostly involving the trip through Ancient Barrow last night and what type of things we'd be doing in school once the summer ended.

I had first arrived here in the early spring, so I really only experienced a fraction of a full year of school. Joining the school so late had falsely given me the impression that it was a temporary commitment. The realization that an entire school year was approaching in the distant future, in contrast, made my stay in Serene Village feel so permanent.

As soon as the thought entered my head, I didn't like it. What frustrated me further was the fact that I wasn't really sure why this was. I had no specific issues with Serene Village; although the surrounding environment hadn't been very forgiving, the village itself was irreproachable. Nuzleaf had said it was a great retirement location, and I couldn't have agreed more.

Oh... maybe that was the problem here. I was a human, not a Pokemon. Everyone in the village, besides Leah, was currently convinced that I was just a Snivy, through and through, for reasons as obvious as my appearance. It's a high probability that I am expected to settle down like any other Pokemon would, content with the two-way span of memories on their timeline. This was something I knew I could never hope to do, carrying around the bludgeoned end of my past that had been chipped off somewhere in my conscience that was still undisclosed to me. And that wasn't even getting into the actual reason I might've been tossed into this odd world. The concept of settling down anywhere directly contradicted the initiative I possessed to figure out what the hell happened to me.

 _"You know, I believe you're a human."_

I jumped in place, my thoughts dissolving with the refocus of reality. Espurr just giggled at the sight.

"What?" she teased. "Aren't you used to me doing that?"

"You're too unpredictable with it," I playfully shot back. Adopting a more serious tone, I asked her how much of my deep thinking she had picked up on.

"Enough to understand what you meant," she answered. "I think I get it. It must be hard not knowing who you are, or where you're from, or even what you used to look like or be like. I can't imagine the dissatisfaction you must feel being dropped in an environment where everyone around you has their lives established."

"So you believe me then?" I pressed, surprised by the answer.

"Of course," she consorted cheerfully. "The whole class has believed you ever since you and Leah rescued Budew."

I was shocked upon hearing this. I had initially written off that everyone just chose to ignore what I said in light of what happened at Nectar Meadows. It had never occurred to me that the topic would ever come up again, with my assumption that nobody would take it seriously.

"They do?" I curiously inquired. "Even Panham and Shelmet?"

"Undoubtedly so," she confirmed with a nod for emphasis. "There's a reason we all felt so bad after not believing you at first."

"Oh..." I replied soberly, uncertain how to properly respond. A pang of guilt filled my gut as I remembered the dramatics of that following day, conducted by my own contempt. They had believed my story then, as I had snakily told them to beat it.

"Hey, don't get so down about the stuff you said," Espurr comforted. "We all should've helped you save Budew, so a lot of it is justified."

"Wha- hey!" I exclaimed. "Quit sneaking into my thoughts so often!"

"Why? It's one of the many perks of being a psychic-type," she giggled.

"Show off..." I muttered, unsuccessfully hiding a grin.

We jogged down the main path for a bit longer before finally reaching the turnoff. We then made our way down the rugged path and through the brambles, taking out the occasional wild Pokemon that got too aggressive. After an efficient run through the first part of the dungeon, we made it to the treeline that overlooked the meadow.

We stopped to gaze at its beauty, the pair of us standing side by side before a breathtaking conception of nature's finest colors and condolences. When I had first come here on my frenzied quest to save Budew, there was no time to admire this blooming field of color, but now there was no urgent mission rushing me forward and away from this incredible view. Although a fraction of it had shied away from the sun's beating rays, most of the field was in full summer bloom. A plethora of blues and reds and most dominantly yellows formed a tangible rainbow that blanketed where the rich soil would have been visible. The pallet of primary colors cast itself under the striking skyline, with only a fine streak of trees along the horizon to break the marriage of sapphire sky and florid pasture.

"It's beautiful..." Espurr breathed. "I've only traveled here once, and it was during the winter. The view then is nothing compared to this."

"Yeah..." I echoed, equally enamoured by the view. "And no angry bees flying around this time. When I came here, this treeline was been the closest I could get without risking getting mauled."

"How did you find Budew, then?" Espurr asked, clapping her hands together and widening her eyes. Her expression was similar to that of a small child being told a thrilling tale.

"I used the tall yellow flowers as cover," I supplied, gesturing to various patches where the flowers came together to form miniature canopies. "I had a few close calls, but it worked out... at least until Budew got attacked and I had to break cover to stop the bees from getting her."

"Wow..."

We waded through the field of flowers, talking amongst ourselves and calling the Sewaddle's name every now and then. It was unfortunate that the Pokemon in question featured a yellow and green exterior, one that blended seamlessly with a majority of the flowers. It was also rather small, definitely short enough to be concealed under the canopy of petals. I prayed that this kid actually wanted to be found, so that it would respond to our calls and we might actually finish by sundown. As much as I had been enjoying Espurr's company, this was time much better spent laughing together at the cafe instead of being preoccupied calling out to a lost child in the receding hours of the day.

We searched the eastern side of the field thoroughly for about thirty minutes, keeping our eyes out for any sign of the lost child. Our efforts proved fruitless, and it was already beginning to strain my eyes trying to pick out every last defining detail of the flowers: a process entirely necessary for finding the inconveniently-colored Sewaddle. I was about to suggest Espurr and I split up to cover more ground when I heard an odd beeping sound slightly to my upper right. A brief recognition of the sound registered, but the specifics would not surface through sound waves alone.

Then I saw them. Those floating Pokemon that had attacked me in the woods when I woke up. The ones that Nuzleaf had called "Beeheyem". They were here, in Nectar Meadows.

But there was only two of them. I was certain that there were three in the encounter a while back.

Whatever. I couldn't afford to dedicate any time to consider this as my instinct immediately urged me to find cover. Assuming the same stealth tactics used with the bees would still apply, I effectively tackled Espurr in the process of diving under a nearby patch of tall flowers.

"Sage, w-"

"Quiet!" I hissed. "Sorry I had to do that. But did you see those three Pokemon up ahead?"

"I believe I got a glimpse of them, but what does-"

"L-look, there's not a lot of time to explain," I whispered. "Long story short, they attacked me in the woods when I first appeared in this world. Nuzleaf said it could have had something to do with me being a human."

She was silent for a moment before whispering back. "And you're sure those are the same Pokemon?"

I nodded gravely.

I then realized I was partially laying on top of her. We were a bit tangled up in the stems of the flowers - an aftereffect of the wayward dive. I awkwardly squirmed to the right, giving her some space to breathe.

"S-sorry," I stammered.

"I-it's fine," she replied quietly.

Now that that brief explanation and awkward landing was thankfully out of the way, I evaluated the bigger situation that was embodied by the pair of enemies hovering ahead of us.

It really was the Beeheyem! Damn it, I had _completely_ forgotten about them. Perhaps the discombobulation of being turned into a Pokemon had eclipsed my shock concering their actions, and I had chosen not to think about them as much as I probably should've. Stupid!

I felt like scoffing loudly at this unpleasant turn of events, and I definitely would've if there wasn't any initiative to stay quiet. Didn't we just deal with the 'ghosts' of Serene Village just last night, picking up our fair share of injury in the process? Now, while Leah was serving the rest of her pops' death sentence and everyone else was sleeping it off, Espurr and I were hiding from these maniacs, dragged into yet another unnecessarily dangerous situation.

I positioned myself on the ground to get a proper viewing angle on them, and Espurr and I began meticulously observing their odd behavior. They were poking at the flowers, flashing the lights on the ends of their arms at each other and distantly chanting some unidentifiable dissonance.

"Can you understand any of that?" I whispered to my companion.

She shook her head. "Not in the slightest. And those are psychic-types who inherit a high mental potency, meaning there's no way I'm reading their scrambled minds even if I got close enough to make an attempt."

I hummed in acquiescence, and turned my attention back to the two Beeheyem.

"So, what do we do?" Espurr suddenly asked. "Do we leave or do we stay and watch? It's your call."

"You should go back," I said, but immediately regretted it when I received a disapproving look as an answer.

"Come on Sage, I'm not weak," Espurr replied. "And I'm certainly not just going to leave you here with these two who attacked you before. I made that mistake once and you nearly got killed. I won't leave your side a second time."

I looked her in the eyes, and saw the determination behind them. The kind of determination someone felt when they had something to prove. Was she still brooding on her decision not to follow me here back in the spring?

"Okay," I answered finally, a smile peeking its way through at how much she cared. "Then we'll stay. want to know what's going on, and I think they might have some connection to what happened to me. Plus, we've still got to find that kid."

Espurr nodded and turned back to watch the Beeheyem, who hadn't moved far from where they were before. We observed them poke around in the flower patches ahead of us, evidently looking for something underneath. Fortunately they weren't covering a very wide area at a quick pace, so if they made their way over to us it would give us plenty of time to crawl away.

Fifteen minutes passed, and my mind began to idle. When they finally seemed to have found something, I might have missed it had Espurr not tapped my shoulder.

"Look!" she sharply whispered.

I looked, and the negatives just continued to stack. One of the Beeheeyem was holding a little Pokemon that it had picked up from inside of the flowers.

Of course, it was the Sewaddle we had been searching for.

"You've got to be kidding me," I grumbled under my breath.

Before I could surmise a plan, however, I detected the faint vibrations of voices up ahead. The two Beeheyem were apparently talking now, in coherent language. We were a quite a ways away, enough to make it incredibly difficult to hear, but I was still able to scarcely put together bits and pieces of their conversation.

"...little guy obviously isn't... you moron... put it down."

"I'm just... he looked a lot... same colorations..."

"We're in the middle of... what are you... ... idiot! I think we... convinced... this point."

"...if you say so."

The Beeheyem on the left set the Sewaddle down where it had found him, and they began floating straight toward us. "Hey, what are you looking at!" one of the Beeheyem called in our direction as they slowly made their way over. I was confused, since I was definitely certain they couldn't see Espurr and I where we hid. There was no way they were talking to us, so who were they looking at then? Espurr, unlike me, was much more attentive at the time, and came to a heart-stopping conclusion a couple seconds before I did.

 _"Sage. Above us."_

As soon as I looked, I instantly wished I hadn't gone exploring today. I should've paid more attention to where the third Beeheyem possibly could've gone, but instead I foolishly left our backside uncovered as I was too immersed with a curiosity for the the other two's behavior. This question was answered in the worst way possible as I stared up at the hovering ceramic Pokemon, who returned my gaze with equal surprise.

"Aye!" it suddenly called, using the same everyday language that the other two had switched to. "He's right here!"

 _"Time to go."_ I formed the words in my head, hoping Espurr would pick up on them. She was on her feet before I was, so I assumed she must have.

"He? Who's 'he'?" one of the approaching Beeheyem questioned.

"The human! The one who- oof!" The Beeheyem's answer was cut short by the parallel vertical swipe of my two vines, catching it in the midsection and knocking the wind out of it. Espurr and I were on our feet, dashing toward where the kid was set down. The good news was that it was a few dozen meters away. The bad news was that in between our target was the other two Beeheyem, who by now had pieced together what had just happened.

"W-wait, this wasn't supposed to happen! Do we attack him?" the one on the left nervously asked.

"Wh- of course we attack him! You nitwit!" the other one screeched. This brief exchange gave Espurr and I enough time to reach them, and I took full advantage of their hesitation by spinning up a leaf tornado that was rapidly flung in their direction. It was designed with speed prioritized over power and accuracy, intended only to initially distract them. I then fell in stride beside Espurr, who then abruptly stopped.

"Find the child," Espurr ordered me. "I'll make sure they don't interfere. Once you secure him, we'll leave."

I wanted to argue, but I quickly realized it would've just impeded the situation. Any response would've given the Beeheyem more time to recover. Silently cursing Espurr for bearing the difficulty that definitely should've been mine, I reluctantly but hastily made my way toward where I had seen the Sewaddle.

 _Please stay safe._

This entire acre of the field was a giant yellow flower patch. For a hovering Pokemon, it might not be too difficult to look down and see someone hiding in the camouflage (although I kept in mind that the bee Pokemon failed to do that when I had hidden from them in these flowers). For a Pokemon on the ground, however, my sense of movement as well as view distance was obstructed by the forest of flowers reaching to the clouds above, most of them extending as high as my chin.

"Hey, kid!" I hissed in a random direction, frantically making my way through the blinding forest of vegetation to find him. "Sewaddle! Where are you?"

No immediate luck. The sounds of energy colliding violently behind me hastened my panicked search. If I couldn't find this kid pronto, I would have to turn back and help Espurr empty-handed. I had come to respect her strength immensely in the time I had known her, but there no way she could hold those things off on her own forever.

A few more seconds passed and- there! I spotted the child laying down with his leaf covering his head for cover, and quickly swept him up with my vines.

"Huh...?" he murmured. "Who are you? Are you gonna eat me mister?"

"No, I'm here to take you to your mother. Come with me," I told him, out of breath. My injury from last night was starting to show up at this dire time, beginning with my strained lungs. Shelmet had a point earlier; I still wasn't in a very good condition for this kind of exertion. Not that it mattered at all now.

"Mmkay," was the casual answer he gave as I courted him away.

I ran with him back toward where we had first entered the meadow, which brought us pretty close to where Espurr and the three Beeheyem were engaged in a brawl. I glanced to my side to check on them, and I immediately regretted Espurr's plan to split apart.

She must have done enough damage to keep them all at a fair distance, but her defenses were being exposed by the psybeams and energy balls that threatened her from broad angles. After my experience running from them in the forest, I had initially thought that the three Beeheyem lacked the marksmanship to hit a moving target. It was as if they were merely trying to scare me, or damage me only to the point of retreat. Against Espurr, however, their approach to combat was noticeably different - this time, they weren't playing around. The trio of psychic-types were able to collaborate and trap her all too often, the numbers advantage proving fatal paired with their range and surprising accuracy.

I set the Sewaddle down with crude instructions to wait by the treeline before rushing back over to where the fight was occurring. Espurr had already been hit hard several times, and she was knocked down by a direct hit from a psybeam right as I burst through the last patch of talk flowers in my way to the little opening they had all settled in.

I had hoped to gain some sort of surprise element; at least enough to allow me to strike first. That didn't happen, however, and the lack of creativity in my advance forced me to take a dive in order to avoid a psybeam shot my way. I hopped back up and spun in a circle several times, gathering leaves and petals from the flowers into a twister that I whipped in the direction of the three Beeheyem. One of them sent a charge beam that slipped right through the leaf tornado and impacted me right in the forehead, jolting my spine and knocking me back into the dirt. The tornado fortunately didn't waver an inch, continuing on to cut through the enemies. The attack wasn't intended to deal massive damage; rather it was designed to dish out just enough to merely disorient and create space between us.

"Come on, Espurr!" I encouraged as I tried to help her pick herself up off the ground. When she did, I took in her appearance. Her fur was matted and filthy, and she was breathing hard. A small cut had opened up on the right side of her forehead, and a steady trickle of blood was running down her face and staining tufts of her pristine fur. She hadn't sustained enough damage to risk fainting, but she didn't look like she was having much fun either. Damn it, I took too long looking for that kid!

She noticed my wide-eyed stare, and urged me onward. "I'm fine, worry about it later. This is just a scratch," she gasped. "Did you find the child?"

I nodded, and pointed to the treeline. She got the message, and we began to make our exit. We exchanged a few more attacks with the Beeheyem, who by now had recovered from the brief distraction and had resorted back to their ranged assault. It didn't matter, however, since the power of me and Espurr's combined attacks (plus a few blast seeds I utilized) was more than enough to create a sizable gap between us and the Beeheyem. Finally, we had distanced ourselves enough to escape, scrambling through the flowers and reaching the treeline unchallenged.

The kid was perched in the motionless grass, nibbling on a leaf as if everything was right in the world. "Oh, you're back," he said nonchalantly. "Are we gonna find my mommy now?"

"Yes," Espurr replied shakily, being careful not to sound panicked. "Please follow us."

"I got him," I piped as I sweeped the child up in a pair of vines. "Now let's get out of here..."

* * *

"Who's in the what now!?"

As I anticipated, Nuzleaf mirrored my initial astonishment at the reemergence of the Beeheyem that attacked me. The very mention of the Beeheyem had nearly knocked him out of his wooden chair, which he hastily straightened to avoid such a thing from happening.

"Yeah," I continued to explain. "They were there in Nectar Meadows. Weren't really in the mood to talk, either."

Nuzleaf rubbed his chin thoughtfully, before grimacing in irritation. "But why would they..." He trailed off, settling back into intense concentration.

"Why would they... what?" I pressed him.

"Hm?" He was snapped out of his deep thought by the sound of my voice. "Oh, I was sayin' why would they still be attackin' you? It doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. You _sure_ you didn't do nothin' to set them off before I found you in that there forest?"

"No," I assured him with an enervated shake of my head. "I couldn't have. They were the first Pokemon I saw after waking up, and they attacked me on the spot."

"And then they followed that up by attackin' you at them fields today, huh?"

I nodded this time. "Espurr too. She was helping me out with something, and she unfortunately got involved."

"Is your girly-friend alright?" Nuzleaf asked, a look of concern dawning on his face.

"She's not my-" I shook my head and sighed, suddenly finding the flooring a proper place to rest my eyes. "Y-yeah, she'll be fine, although she took a couple hits. She's strong."

"That's mighty good to hear, then. We don't need anyone gettin' hurt by these things beyond a few scratches."

My gaze did not rise from the floor, relating myself to every bit of worthless dirt and dust scattered across its surface on a microscopic level. I still felt a tsunami of guilt crashing into me that Espurr had to be the one to get hurt just so we could save that kid. How could I have let that happen when I was supposed to be the target? She might've had prodigious capabilities, but her defense lacked where her offense thrived. And when fighting three airborne Pokemon at once who exhibited the accuracy that they did today, one would likely get hit whether they liked it or not. I should've argued her, I should've been more urgent with telling her to go home.

Nuzleaf wanted to know every detail, including the odd behavior of the Beeheyem and the content of what I picked up from their conversation. I explained the whole story to him, starting from the class discussion outside all the way to Espurr and I returning to Serene Village with the child, and lightly bandaging Espurr's forehead before heading back to our respective homes. When I was done, Nuzleaf sat in silence for a solid minute before uttering a word.

"Well, I'll be a Mankey's inbred uncle," he finally spat. "So this means they're hangin' around the area then, and by the sound of it, searchin' for a younger Pokemon."

"Which was can easily assume is me," I added. "And now that they've found me, they'll likely be scanning the entire area west of the Sheer Mountain Range. They'll be here soon enough."

Nuzleaf was suddenly on his feet, with his hands forward in a cautionary gesture. "Woah, woah now," he said. "Let's not jump to the conclusion just yet that we're bein' invaded."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "How can we not?"

"Well, they didn't possibly follow you, did they?"

"Well, no. But, look at this," I said before rummaging through my bag and pulling out the Society gadget. I booted it up and tapped on the map section, and a colorized overview of the surrounding area that Leah and I had recorded over the past few weeks was generated on the circular screen.

"Here's where they found me in the forest," I showed Nuzleaf by pointing to a spot to the south. Then I pointed to Nectar Meadows. "This is where they found me today. And here," I finally pointed to Serene Village, marked with a tiny bullet point icon indicating it as civilization. "...is where we're at now. Notice how close Serene Village is to both of these locations. For God's sake, there's hardly a full day's walk between the two spots where I encountered them."

"What's your point?" Nuzleaf asked, still trying to piece it together.

"My point," I emphasized. "Is that they'll be at our doorstep before long. This isn't something I can ignore any longer."

Nuzleaf scratched his forehead. "Well... I reckon you're right. We'll have to be ready for them, then."

"Are you sure?" I questioned, skeptical of his rash outlook. "Is there any possible alternative to violence?"

"By the looks of it... no. I'm afraid not," Nuzleaf answered a little reluctantly. "I reckon it only takes one determined aggressor to guarantee someone gettin' hurt. All we can do now is make sure that's the Beeheyem, and not you, on the short end of that resolution."

I hesitated, before nodding outwardly. Inwardly, however, I was the setting of a battleground of emotions. Truth be told, Nuzleaf was right about his last statement: someone was definitely going to get hurt here. Well... someone already had been hurt, and it was someone who shouldn't have had anything to do with it. It didn't help that that responsibility fell directly onto my shoulders, either, considering I had made the decision to stay and watch them rather than run home. I was apparently supposed to be the Beeheyem's target, and others getting dragged into it simply couldn't happen.

Especially those that I had come to care about.

So how could I fix this?

In the short time I had spent in this world, I had become well accustomed to violent outcomes. The process of entering a battle, almost always involving wild Pokemon in a dungeon, was simply a part of exploring. The attacks that I was capable of utilizing in battle had started to become a sixth sense that, rather than lying dormant for when it was needed, was simply at the forefront of my mind all the time. It could be best equated to an extension of the body, intelligently designed for efficiency and applied to reality for self-defense. Violence in this world simply was a part of nature, with only the contagion of civilization lying isolated from it... and when I'm out exploring all the time this deep in the country, I really didn't encounter much civilization.

But it cut both ways. Serene Village stood as a shining gem nestled in the heart of the valley, where tranquility ruled and traditional values were instilled. I might not have known much about the world outside this area, but I knew that the establishment here was a benignant one. This is why I simply couldn't justify staying here and disturbing the integration of peace. No matter what excuse my mind tried to make, I just couldn't.

That night I laid awake turning this thought over in my head repeatedly, trying to make sense of any of it. Today really wasn't productive in the way I'd hoped it would be; one Society mission didn't compare well to Espurr getting hurt and me potentially endangering the village that took me in. Not to mention I didn't get any answers from those Beeheyem like I had hoped. I might have considered just going after them myself if I were a bit stronger, but wouldn't that only further tip them off to this place's location? For all I knew, they've found it already. Serene Village might be a great place to hide if your pursuers had the entire Water Continent to search, but my deduction with Nuzleaf earlier proved how narrowed down their search bubble was. It would not be long now.

So the question would arise again and again in my mind: what do I do? This falls to me, not to anyone else, and it's in everyone's best interest to keep it that way.

The ghosts that were pranking everyone, and gave us a rather unpleasant time last night, have nothing on these Beeheyem. Espurr was taking the blows from the ghosts when they triple-teamed her, and although it still looked like it hurt, she was clearly winning despite the type disadvantage. I had simply stepped in so that it would be less tedious for her. The Beeheyem, however, had a wider range of qualified attacks (I had seen psybeam, charge beam, and energy ball in the short time I had been fighting) that hit much harder. If I hadn't stepped in earlier today after finding that child, Espurr would've had to retreat to avoid getting knocked out.

But what really got me worried about the Beeheyem, more than anything else, was the fact that they knew I was once a human. Before Leah knew, before even Nuzleaf knew, those three things knew. From the looks of it, there's a pretty good chance they had something to do with my memory loss and my altered form. I couldn't know for certain, but at this point it wasn't at all ridiculous to assume they were involved.

Which then brought up yet another unanswerable question: who else is involved? It's highly unlikely that these Beeheyem are acting alone, with no companions or commanders. Fantasies of menacing coalitions began to form the more I thought about it. From the moment I was attacked in the forest, the Beeheyem's actions seemed so organized, so calculated, and it didn't quite add up. I was definitely not regarded as another target to scoff at, and I don't think this in a way to be proud of. In contrast, it totally scared the hell out of me.

Yes, it would be foolish to presume they are working alone. And judging from what I already knew (and how much I didn't know) about the Beeheyem, it would be even more foolish to choose the path of inevitable conflict. It was simply too risky, and it put innocent Pokemon who are out here living their peaceful lives in grave danger. Some gambles, like the one I took to go after Budew, should be considered. This one, however, was not one of them.

This left me with one single option.

Nobody gets hurt, and hopefully the Beeheyem don't end up catching me. I had sincerely come to think of Serene Village as my home in these past couple of months, getting to know everyone personally and making friends that could span a lifetime. This is exactly why I couldn't let anything happen to any of it, not when a force able to tamper with the rift between humans and Pokemon is closing in. This crisis was bigger than any of what surrounds me, and it had been made clear that there was only one way to prevent calamity.

I would need to leave, and never return.


	16. Last Resort

Chapter 16 - Last Resort

I might not have had any answers, or any established accommodations. I might not have been in a position to trust anyone, really, given the hand I'd been dealt - that is, a hand that by nature wasn't visible to me at all. But I did have something that gave me pause, something that generated a battleground a emotions inside of me.

Friends.

It felt so strange calling them that with all of the surrounding circumstances, but it couldn't be refuted by any amount of logic or denial. I dared to trust, and my inhibitions yielded. I had developed an unadulterated friendship with the Pokemon of Serene Village; one that had become the cornerstone of the life I had patched together for myself to make up a new set of memories.

...Now I was going to have to tell my closest ones that I was leaving forever.

The next day started off with a slap to the face. I had hoped that maybe I had jumped to conclusions regarding the Beeheyem's aggression. Maybe they were actually moving east the whole time and would continue that way rather than circle around the valley, and all of this could be put to rest without anything needing to change. That was the subject of my waging thoughts as I walked outside and stood lost in the morning drift; a prayer that my superstition would yield nothing but a passing breeze.

This notion didn't even last half an hour, as the first thing Leah and I heard when walking down the road was Roselia complaining to Raticate, another villager, about "these three brown Pokemon in the distance that were flashing multicolored lights at Budew." My heart dropped to the floor, and it took a painful amount of self-control to keep my distress invisible.

"Yikes!" Leah replied, the presence of the three Beeheyem being news to her. No small talk of dangerous Pokemon could keep her confident smile at bay for long, and her energetic mood was not deterred in the slightest. Tapping her badge with her paw twice, she offered words of reassurance to the worried mother. "Don't worry Roselia, we'll be there if they try anything."

Roselia and Raticate gave us nods of understanding before walking together to the plaza. Leah turned to me, a big smile on her face that inversely mirrored the nervous line plastered on mine.

"Now that I've cleaned the whole house twice, we can finally get back to our Society work!" she cheered. "Now, I was thinking we- Sage? What's wrong?"

At this point I had found that there was little I could hide from my best friend. Lying about my predicament wasn't a good idea to begin with, especially since she was willing to believe my story of being a human, so coming clean was the path to choose. I sighed reluctantly, and decided it would be best to begin my explanation. I explained all of the details involving the encounter in Lush Forest, as well as the encounter in Nectar Meadows the day before. Everything I had explained to Nuzleaf the evening before I now poured out to my partner, who listened unwaveringly.

When I was done, she took a moment to analyze the summation of my story.

"And you think the three Pokemon that have been lingering in the woods around the village are the same ones?" she asked, summing it all up.

"Unfortunately, yes," I sighed wistfully. "That's got to be them. The description from Roselia is spot on. Like I said, I fought them and they're no joke." I put my head in my tiny hands in defeat. "I... I don't know what to do. If we try to fight them, someone will get hurt. They already know I'm here, so hiding is useless. The only alternative is..."

Leah stared at me expectantly for a few seconds before her eyes grew wide. "You aren't actually suggesting..."

"I-I have to leave Leah. It's the only way I can be fair to everyone in Serene Village." There was no bother to conceal my despondency toward accepting what I believed what inevitable. Every syllable felt like its own betrayal, and I dreaded her reaction.

I had expected Leah to formulate an argument for why my idea was ridiculous, or resort to pleading me not to leave, or at the very least wish me well and tell me to following my heart and all that fluff that on might expect between two parting friends. But her response was none of the above. Instead, she just stared at me with a blank expression. After a few seconds, a huge grin formed on her face.

"That gives me an idea," she whispered mostly to herself.

I hadn't quite heard her. "What?"

"This is perfect!" she suddenly exclaimed, jumping in place and making me take a half-step backward. She witnessed my astounded reaction and abruptly corrected herself. "Err, I mean, it's obviously not good that you're being hunted by three killer psychos. But what I meant was... I'll just leave with you, and ditch this place like I've always wanted!"

Her elaboration had the opposite effect of its intention, only serving to make me more astonished.

 _Is she serious? Leave with me? She's got a life here, and..._

That thought made me stop in my mental tracks. I asked myself: does she really have a life here? She's got her pops, sure, but it wasn't like she'd be living with him forever. And before I came to the village, she really didn't have any friends who would miss her if she left. She was such a free spirit, so unlawfully eager to explore the entire planet. What would she be if she were stuck here, in the secluded country, trapped by a wall of mountain from almost every angle and further confined by the expectations of those around her? After all, wouldn't they all just go back to ignoring and looking down on her again? It seemed self-indulged to consider myself the catalyst for the respect she'd been getting lately, but the thought did have a window of logic to it.

Wasn't she just going to leave at some point anyway?

With this in mind, who was I to stop her from tagging along? She had become so instantly attached to me in the first place because I had shown her respect, and had promised to help her achieve her dreams. Pretension aside, that's no insignificant covenant to share with someone. It was a bond that was embedded in the scarves that had become a symbol of our team, and it was one that I had come to value all the same. Why should a few overly-persistent thugs change that?

"So... what do you think?"

I hesitated for a moment before finally answering.

"If that's what you feel is right... then I'd be happy to have you along."

She nodded excitedly, her fluffy tail wagging back and forth. "Yeah! Thats what I wanted to hear! Now I just gotta convince my pops!" Before I could open my mouth to respond, she whirled around and sped off to her house.

I blinked.

 _Okay... well... just like that, and I've suddenly committed to this._

I quirked my lips and ran this through my head, allowing the intimacies of this decision to process.

 _Was this the right thing to do? Was it really smart to- to trust her so readily?_

I immediately shook my head. That was a stupid thought. She had proven herself time and time again. It was good that she had resolved to come. Good for both of us.

On a following note, I couldn't help but wonder if it would be smarter to just leave without telling our respective legal guardians. It would definitely require weighing the pros and the cons. To be honest, it felt cruel to even consider disappearing on Nuzleaf after he provided my basic needs all this time while asking virtually nothing in return. And if I had unspoken misgivings about the principle of a decision like that, it would be absurd to ask Leah to consider it as well. The reason why this might become an obstacle, however, is that I highly doubted Carracosta would submit to any of Leah's pleas to leave. If it wasn't simply her nature being displayed through her excitement to get one step closer to leaving, she would've likely still been standing here as I was, timorously weighing the probabilities.

In the end, there would be no way I'd leave Nuzleaf out to dry like that. Whether he agreed with it or not, I was going to tell him what I was planding. He deserved to know because he had proven himself too.

Plus, this was Nuzleaf of all Pokemon. I was betting he'd just pat me on the head and tell me not to get myself killed.

I walked back down the soft dirt pathway through the residential area intending to weight my conjecture, breathing in deeply the harbingers of the blossoming summer. Despite a few clouds rolling in from the remote eastern skyline, the sun reigned supreme over the valley and coated it with light from every angle imaginable. The humidity was down just enough to glitter under the sun's rays due to a recent lack of rain without weighing everyone down, and the flowers donning the roadside and the trees constructing a wall around the tranquil settlement appeared to flourish in light of the fact. Deerling would soon adopt a greener pelt in a quarterly process roughly outlined to me by the rest of the class, and I briefly wondered if I would be around to witness it. Today was a beautiful day to be outside - too beautiful for such conflict. A sigh must've escaped my lips at how little it mattered now. This was between selfishness and the greater good.

Nuzleaf was still sitting in a chair like he was when I had woken, scanning the paper for weeks-old articles that might've slipped under his nose. He saw me enter from the corner of his vision, and he half-lowered his reading to glance up at me.

"What are you up to kiddo? Aren't you usually off explorin' by this time?"

My answer was flat and straight to the point. "The Beeheyem are on the village outskirts. By the looks of it, they could strike at any time."

Nuzleaf nearly dropped the newspaper he was holding. He was visibly upset by this news, his face contorting to an expression of unhindered irritation.

"Dagnabbit! And here I was thinkin' you had been jumpin' the gun with your prediction yesterday."

"You and me both," I sighed, plooping myself down onto the wooden stump across from him.

"How do you know this for certain?" he groaned.

"Raticate and Roselia described a trio of Pokemon lurking around the village that fit the Beeheyem's description seamlessly. They were apparently eyeing Budew, similar to how they were eyeing the Sewaddle from Nectar Meadows."

He scratched his chin and twirled the leaf on his head a couple times, processing the material. "I reckon we'll have to keep a good eye out then," he finally said. "Maybe I'll head into them woods and give them what for!"

I waved my hands and shook my head in the negative. "Woah, Nuzleaf, calm down. I appreciate your help with all of this, but..."

I trailed off. There was no easy way to word what came next.

Nuzleaf eyed me innocently.

"...But what, kiddo?"

I cleared my throat and sighed again. This wasn't going to be fun. "I thought about our conversation last night about how a violent outcome was inevitable in all of this. And... I think I have an alternative where nobody who shouldn't be involved ends up getting hurt."

"What are you gettin' at?"

It hurt to say, but I had to say it.

"I-I'm leaving the village, Nuzleaf. It's clear that this is no laughing matter, and I'm not letting the villagers get hurt because of my presence."

"You're up and leaving the village?!" Nuzleaf exclaimed, finally dropping his newspaper. His demeanor instantly cooled following this outburst, however, and he bent down to pick it up. "W-well, I reckon I understand you wanting to protect the villagers and keep the peace. It's mighty noble of you to do so, Sage."

I nodded gratefully, assuming this meant he was on board. Unfortunately for me, his follow-up revealed other plans.

"However," he continued. "I reckon I can't let you leave the village."

"What? But-"

"By lettin' you leave, we adults would be doing you a disfavor, when it's our job to protect our minors. You've already hurt yourself off in that dangerous barrow the other day."

...That was true. I could still feel the outline of the remaining burns on my right side. The physical manifestation of my charred scales had all but disappeared after being medically treated, but most of the aching still lingered.

"Plus, how can we really be sure that it is them Beeheyem? Silly rumors could mean anything if they're twisted up enough."

I was following where he was going with this, and I didn't like it one bit. The fact that he proposed a formidable argument against my own plans didn't really help.

"So, in other words..."

"Yep!" he smiled. "I reckon you'll stay put right here, and we'll take care of it. Them Beeheyem didn't seem so tough anyway. Why, I bet we could wrangle up a good ol' country mob and send them back to whatever land they're from."

"But they know I'm a human! They probably had something to do with what happened to me!" I emphatically gestured to my serpentine body as I said this. "Those things are involved one way or another, which is an obvious indication that there are bigger things going on! For all we know, we haven't even scratched the surface!"

Nuzleaf, carefree as ever, patted me on the head and chuckled at my exasperation. "Sage, my boy, don't you reckon that if they had backup, they woulda sent it by now? They surely coulda used it yesterday when they were dealing with the likes of you and your girly-friend. I reckon you're just overthinking all this a wee bit."

My face reddened. "She's not my- wait, did you say 'backup'?"

"Well, chew on this for a moment," Nuzleaf continued. "Clearly somethin' brought you to this world that has the incredible power to do such a thing. It ain't every day you hear a human is standing right in front of you, I'll say. So don't you think that if some force of evil wanted something done to you, they'd have gone and done it already? If there was more to this than the Beeheyem, why haven't we seen 'em yet?"

I stayed silent.

This was what didn't make the slightest bit of sense to me. As foolish as it was to assume the Beeheyem were just a group of freelancers, it was almost equally as ridiculous to assume they wouldn't have already called in their "backup", whatever it could end up being. Almost.

It wasn't enough. Nuzleaf was obviously going to downplay the situation - it's just who he was. He was too easygoing with all of this, and I knew there was no way I could relate to his outlook. He wasn't the one who was trying to figure out some malevolent enemy in the shadows all while having a restarted brain.

Whether there were more individuals involved or more unseen forces involved, or a combination of both, something behind the scenes was obviously going on here. So why couldn't Nuzleaf understand that it was imperative that nobody else get involved? There were lives on the line! The stakes were not as low as risking getting hit by a few psybeams like he seemed to think. The body I now commandeered stood as an animated example of why.

So what could I do? Nuzleaf heard my proposal and gave his response, and it didn't seem like there was anything I could do to change it.

Nuzleaf spoke up after a few moments of awkward silence.

"I have an idea. It might not be the most blameless of ideas, but I reckon it's something you'd be interested in if you wanna figure this mess out."

I looked at him, expectantly tilting my head to the side. Instead of immediately elaborating, Nuzleaf got up from his chair and walked outside, motioning for me to follow along. I hesitated for a moment, a bit taken aback by the fact that this conversation would require being outdoors, before finally rising from my chair and following suit. I was beginning to wonder if whatever this was involved going into the woods and finding the Beeheyem, which certainly was not something I was keen to do.

We didn't go to the woods, however, instead walking all the way to the fork in the road. There Nuzleaf halted his pace, and turned around to face me. After a brief glance around to make sure nobody was looking, he put a hand on my shoulder and pointed toward something in the distance.

Still confused, I questioned his antics. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"That pretty dang big mountain over yonder," he explained. "See it?"

I peered into the distance. Yes, when I looked to the eastern horizon, I could clearly discern one particular mountain towering above the rest. The mountain itself didn't seem very far away, but the distance to the summit was what caught my attention. I estimated it would probably take the better part of a day to climb the whole thing if you knew the quickest way up, and considerably longer if you didn't. From where I stood I could discern a giant collection of trees dotting the mountain's features, producing a stark but altogether beautiful representation of its vertical landscape. I couldn't shake the weirdest feeling when staring at it. It was difficult to comprehend for me, but it was as if the mountain itself was returning my gaze. It wasn't necessarily a creepy sensation; quite the opposite actually. It took my breath away in awe.

"That's Revelation Mountain up there. It's always surrounded by some kinda mystical aura, and nobody's sure why." Nuzleaf paused for a moment and frowned. "Problem is, the village apparently holds some kinda tradition involving the mountain. Ain't nobody allowed to go up there, ever, for any reason."

I had heard this before in school. Ancient Barrow wasn't the only place that anyone was forbidden to explore; Revelation Mountain was always right there in that same context of "don't go there or bad things will happen". But with Revelation Mountain, there has always been an ominous stress applied to the teachers' appeals, one that they never stretched to give the Ancient Barrow. It gave the implication that going to Ancient Barrow would have you worrying about getting harshly reprimanded, whereas going to Revelation Mountain would have you _wishing_ all you had to worry about was getting a lecture. Considering the horrifying content that we found in Ancient Barrow that still sent a shiver down my spine whenever I glanced at the rotten tree, I preferred not to think about whatever could be up that mountain that could hush the entire village.

"But why is that?"

The voice wasn't mine, instead coming from the path behind us. Upon hearing someone enter the conversation uninvited, Nuzleaf gasped and jolted in place. We turned around and saw Leah standing there, twig hanging out of her mouth, staring at Revelation a Mountain as we just were.

She looked at me and smiled widely as she padded over to stand beside us. She tossed away her 'snack' and gave a casual greeting. "Hey, sorry if I snuck up on you guys."

Nuzleaf quickly regained his composure. "Why, I suppose it's just fine," he chuckled in a welcoming manner. "I was just tellin' Sage about Revelation Mountain."

Leah followed my gaze, which by now had returned to the mountain in the foggy morning distance. "Wow, it looks pretty today." She was right. It glimmered in symphony with the morning atmosphere that hadn't yet evaporated in the approaching noon heat.

"Makes you wish you knew what's up there, huh?" Nuzleaf wondered aloud.

Leah's ears perked up. "What's stopping anyone from just sneaking off to go see?" she asked curiously.

"The guards," Nuzleaf replied with an offsetting hint of disappointment that almost entirely masked an underlying tone of mild bitterness. "The adults of the village are commissioned to guard duty day-by-day."

"Wait," I interrupted, looking at him with evident dissatisfaction. "You're telling me that the village puts forth all of this effort to prevent anyone from going up that mountain, and yet nobody knows why?"

"I reckon that about sums it up," Nuzleaf answered with a dissatisfied gesture of his own. "They say it's been a tradition handed down through the generations since this here village was established many, many centuries ago."

"And no one questioned it?" Leah piped. "I mean, I know my pops goes on some kind of 'village duty' every now and then that would take all day, but I didn't know he was just standing around guarding nothing."

"But what does this have to do with my problem?" I asked Nuzleaf, trying to stay on topic.

"Well, I reckon I've heard a few rumors about Revelation Mountain on my trips. More than one source has done confirmed that a human, long ago, was up there. And from what I heard, that human did something mighty significant on the summit. Makes you wonder if we could learn something up there about what happened to Sage here."

Leah and I simultaneously gasped at the word 'human'. We shared a glance, understanding each others' thought processes perfectly. This could mean I finally had a lead! Here I've been, wandering around aimlessly, unsure what happened to my body or what corner of my existence my memories had secluded themselves in. No leads existed before this but the Beeheyem, which I had literally been planning to run away from. But this... this might change everything. Sure it was a long shot, but at this point I had absolutely nothing else left. This human, whoever he or she was, must have done something biblical in order to have the entire mountain declared hallowed ground for so incredibly long: a deposition that would outlast the memory of the very reason it was indicted in the first place. Going through with this might prove to be copious, or perhaps it could end up being disastrous, but it certainly would not be a waste of time.

I didn't need to say it out loud. Nuzleaf's implications were right down the alley I was aiming for, and I knew Leah well enough to be certain she saw see things in a similar way. She'd probably go more for the adventure, less for the human stuff, but I also knew from the look of compassionate determination she gave me that she wanted to help me. It never really hit me until this moment just how important having friends in this world would turn out to be. When someone else truly cares for one's troubles, everything was more bearable.

I didn't want to leave this village, at least not yet. At hours that situation was mostly void of hope, who knew what could transpire in the next couple of days?

We were going to climb that mountain; that much was established. A bit of outdated sacrilege wasn't about to stop us.

"So how are we going to do this? Didn't you say there were guards?"

We had been walking down the path for some time now, and the mountain was now practically looming over us. My question probably should have come a little sooner, but I was too busy scoping the woods for signs of the Beeheyem and getting lost in thought to plan ahead.

"I reckon Hippopotas is on guard duty today, from what I remember."

Nuzleaf didn't elaborate further. Leah spoke up, intending to squeeze his cryptic ideas out. "So... what do we do then? Knock him out?"

Nuzleaf and I looked at her, both of us alarmed at her suggestion. "Woah kiddo!" Nuzleaf exclaimed, nervously chuckling. "We're doin' this to prevent a violent outcome, not cause another one."

Leah put a dismissing paw up in her defense. "Sorry, sorry, I'm just throwing out ideas. We have to do _something_ other than just asking him to let us through."

"She's got a point," I told Nuzleaf. "By the sound of it, we won't just be able to walk through the gate without major consequences from the rest of the village."

"Although, I don't see why we can't just... you know... tell them about the whole situation. I bet Simipour would understand." Leah remarked.

"It ain't just the village that upholds this ancient tradition," Nuzleaf responded. "It falls to the local police to maintain that nobody plants a toe on them hallowed grounds. I reckon they wouldn't be nearly as understanding."

Okay, this was getting weird. The police, as in Sheriff Magnezone and his army of deputies, were contracted with enforcing this bygone law? Clearly something was different about this mountain. Things weren't quite adding up.

It would be one thing if the place really was home to unspeakable child-eating demons like the schoolteachers made it out to be in their lucrative hogwash... but guards? Police oversight? No, there's a bigger reason that nobody is supposed to go up there. This excited me immensely, because this would mean that our climb would ever-so-likely prove to be a fruitful endeavor, one way or another. And if Nuzleaf was right about that legend with a human of long ago, that theoretical fruit could very well be ripe and edible from the moment we find what we're looking for.

"So then what do we do?" I asked.

Nuzleaf grinned. "I have a plan, don't worry- oh, hush! We're here!"

We arrived at an open clearing at the base of the mountain. Standing as a foreboding marker was a well-constructed gate decorated with spikes on both sides. The surrounding dirt was coarse and graveled down, and there were stacks of crates and barrels scattered around the area, resembling an undeveloped construction site. It all stood as a sharp contrast to the lush greenery of the surrounding forest. We had silently agreed to let Nuzleaf do the talking, and that it would be best if nobody knew that two kids were anywhere near this restricted area. Leah and I dipped behind one of the bigger piles of crates for cover, while Nuzleaf strolled up to the gate, as planned. At the gate sitting in a rough-hewn lawn chair was Hippopotas, stuck in a daydream stemming from his distinct boredom.

"Some guard, huh?" I snarkily whispered to Leah, who stifled a laugh.

"Eh, Nuzleaf...?" the ground-type moaned as he was approached. "Vat are you doing here?"

Despite the awkwardness of approaching out of nowhere, Nuzleaf maintained a steady innocence in his tone that did more than enough to convince the hippo. "I reckon there's been a mix-up with the guard duty. See, I'm actually supposed to be posted here today."

The hippo's eyes bulged as he hopped out of the chair giddily. "By all means! Vank you for telling me. I do not care much for guard duty, I must admit. Vat a bore, yas?"

Nuzleaf nodded and fabricated a mildly disappointed expression. "I reckon you're right... I'll be sittin' here for the rest of the day then."

Hippopotas nodded and gleefully skipped away down the path, never even seeing us sitting behind the pile of cargo. I watched him leave, and scoffed at Nuzleaf's tactics. I never would have expected him to lie so easily; it just didn't fit his character. But I certainly wasn't complaining. Was a sin for the greater good really a sin?

Once we were sure Hippopotas was well out of range, Leah and I emerged from our cover and walked over to Nuzleaf, who never even bothered to sit in the crude little lawn chair. He kicked it aside after giving us a confirming nod, and we all walked through the gate.

Revelation Mountain, like most places leading off the main road, was a mystery dungeon. Leah and I had thoroughly charted all of the natural dungeons in the valley except for this one, and we began to notice differences right away. The Pokemon we encountered weren't necessarily much stronger than the ones we usually ran into, but it seemed like they acted differently. Usually, wild Pokemon found in dungeons would fight you simply because their anciently-adapted genetics told them to. It was a stimulated response that could be evaluated and predicted to a fathomable extent. We quickly noticed that the Pokemon here, however, did not adhere to the nature of their expectations so palpably. These ferals fought with vehement determination, sometimes even impetuous desperation. It was as if they had a goal that ran much deeper than the elimination of outsiders. As if nature itself was conspiring against our rag-tag group of three. It's safe to say it set us all on edge right off the bat.

Regardless of our misgivings, this odd characterization of the mountain's resistance couldn't provide what a simple stat boost would have as far as forcing our retreat. The three of us were able to cut down the opposition with a little bit of strain and effort involved. I even whipped out the gadget at one point to chart some of the key landmarks and add to the map of the valley that Leah had been dying to complete.

I could see that Nuzleaf's posture had now drastically changed from the carefree leniency he typically wore. He was suddenly more civil, and more focused on the smallest details. I had never considered him any kind of warrior or analytic, although I suppose he would've needed some kind of combat experience if he really was an explorer. I had always thought of Nuzleaf as a charismatic guy: one who did more talking and less fighting and decision-making. But here, he had morphed himself to be more cunning and reactive to the obstacles that presented themselves. No doubt, he definitely had to be an explorer of some kind. He clearly knew what he was doing.

I bothered myself with these thoughts as we ascended through rock and forest. In the face of the plethora of natural obstacles we encountered and the ominous feeling the mountain gave me, it was actually a pretty boring climb. Leah and I engaged in friendly conversation to pass the time walking up the sloped trails, occasionally dodging a low-hanging branch or stopping to maneuver around a precarious drop. We mostly talked about the things we had found during our exploration work, touching on certain dungeons and tough encounters we'd had, until the topic shifted to the big ghost debacle. When Nuzleaf was a little ways ahead of us scouting out a precarious drop, Leah spoke up about the nighttime battle at the school, something I had honestly been hoping to avoid discussing with her.

"Sage. Hey, I- uh, I'm really am sorry about what happened..."

"Hm?" I looked at her curiously.

She emitted a sigh, one that was markedly downcast. "At the school, I panicked and you got blown up trying to save me."

I remembered the experience in fine detail. Not so much the explosion itself, but more so the aftermath that took place in the infirmary. The worried faces of Deerling and Goomy, and then Leah's emotional collapse. All of this happening simultaneously and in the midst of a crisis. It was not a good time for anyone.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," I comforted her, hoping to dismiss the subject quickly. "Sometimes people get hurt in battle. That's just how it goes."

"But not like that!" she replied, slightly raising her pitch in desperate self-detriment. "I promised you I could handle myself, but when the time came, I froze up!"

It pained me to admit that at that moment, I had no idea how to respond. No amount of comforting could satisfy someone who was tormented by their fears. The fact that I got hurt as a result must be what really drove the nail.

"Why did you jump in front?" she pressed, now staring listlessly at the ground in front of her.

"Because you're my best friend," I said genuinely, resting a hopeful vine on her shoulder. "Look, I may not have been here for very long, but that doesn't mean I can't care. We'll always look out for each other."

She lightly huffed through her nose, unconvinced and still visibly upset with herself. She drew in air to speak, but stopped herself, slowly shaking her head.

I instantly became concerned. "Hey," I continued. "Don't get so down about all that. Remember what you did right afterward?"

"Yeah, I bawled my eyes out," she answered solemnly, rolling her eyes while still not raising her line of sight from the pebbles below.

"No, I mean at the Ancient Barrow, in that open room. You fought the ghosts then, and several of them at once. And you did pretty well from what I saw."

"Much good that does," she scoffed. "It was already too late to prevent anyone from getting hurt because of me. And besides, by then we knew they weren't 'ominous supernatural beings' like we all thought they were. They were just a rogue group of pranksters!"

Suddenly we heard Nuzleaf's voice calling to us as he came into view on the path ahead. "Time to get a move on," he called, evidently finished with his brief scouting embarkment. "I done found a way we can get by this drop-off up here if we're extra careful."

I turned to Leah, who was still looking rather depressed. "Look, it's not worth it beating yourself up over that kind of stuff. You'd have done the same thing for me, and that's all that matters. You don't have to feel like you owe me an apology."

She sighed once more, before nodding and bearing the outline of a smile. "...Thanks. I guess I needed that." I nodded, returning the smile. Together, we met back up with a patiently waiting Nuzleaf and continued our climb.

Getting by the drop-off in question was not a fun time. The already-hazardous path that ran along the edge of the mountainside suddenly thinned out to extend a mere two or three feet from the wall of stone that rose into the heavens. Opposite of the mountain wall was open air.

The menacing drop below would send one falling a good fifty feet down before hitting the rugged slope and tumbling down at least another five hundred feet. It made me wonder which would kill a poor soul who lost their footing first - the initial fall, or getting ripped to ribbons tumbling across the jagged boulders of the mountainside. I made the initial mistake of looking down, which I instantly regretted as my mind tried to calculate the dismal chances of survival. Reviver seeds can keep lungs expanding and a heart beating for a while, but not for a body crushed by an incalculable fall.

"This is the easiest way up?" I questioned Nuzleaf, trying with minimal success not to let my breathing lock up.

"I reckon it is," he replied in an equally apprehensive tone. "I don't want none of us to die today, so I reckon we stick to this wall like glue."

"I don't know about this..." Leah whimpered. "That's a long..."

"...way down." I breathily finished for her.

We moved along the ledge at an anchored pace. The wind wasn't very strong at this altitude, but it still howled enough to make my blood run cold every time I felt the slimmest breeze tickle my tense shoulders. The worst part of this fragment of our climb wasn't actually the risk of a misstep; rather, it was where you would direct your line of sight while moving along. If you looked down at your feet, you couldn't possibly miss the intensity of the drop before you, and your depth perception would valiantly go to work against your mental integrity. The problem was that if I looked anywhere else then I couldn't see the ledge I was inching along, and I'd give myself a very real chance of slipping.

In light of my lack of memories, I had never really considered heights to be an integral fear of mine. Whether I was just havig a bad first impression, or they really were the bane of my existence, I decided I really didn't like them at this particular point in time.

The hopelessness at what happened next is hard to put into words. It would best equate to the same hopelessness I felt when Leah and I were lying poisoned and bleeding in the grass as we were about to be mauled to death by that aggravated Beedrill. If a disaster were to have occurred here, I would've assumed nine times out of ten that it would involve someone placing a foot wrong and inviting calamity. But reality had a funny way of throwing curveballs at the worst possible moments, and the deafening screech that echoed around us was evidently here to represent that.

I recognized the bird as soon as I could get a good look at it. Black wings, curved beak intelligently designed for tearing meat, and a belt of bones strung around its torso. A Mandibuzz, known well for a lack of preference for their prey and for their unrelenting cruelty, was flying by us in an effort to gauge its newest target.

"Crapfire!" an audibly mortified Nuzleaf shouted over one of the bird's declarations. "We're in big trouble, I reckon!"

I took a glance back at Leah, who wore the same terrified face that I probably wore at the time. Then I looked back at Nuzleaf, who had stopped moving along the ledge and was now focusing his attention on the bird. We read the Mandibuzz, and the Mandibuzz read us. All while we were virtually immobilized, still a good thirty feet from wider ground, while the vulture had the entire sky to itself. One way or another, this was looking like it might be the end of the mission.

 _To hell with being a psychic-type. I would much rather be a bird right now. Then the three of us could take to the skies and not become nature's lunch._

The Mandibuzz completed its scouting report after what only seemed like a few seconds, and opened its beak. A culmination of darkness manifested itself from the energy developed by the vulture's opened jaw. It took aim right at me, and without a moment's hesitation, fired away.

Leah's fireball met the dark pulse before the it could complete two-thirds of its journey. How she was able to launch an attack that would catch the rapidly approaching dark pulse in such a paramount moment while simultaneously keeping herself steady on the ledge was beyond me. It was a hell of an interception, one I would have to get her a nice handful of twigs to chew on as thanks later. That is, if there would be a later.

Our group of three was in the midst of a desperate attempt to collect ourselves when the bird suddenly spoke.

"You clearly aren't dwellers of the mountain," the Mandibulzz, apparently female, cawed accusingly. "How dare you maggots inject the wretched influence of outsiders into the arteries of this sacred place!"

"M-ma'am, please!" Nuzleaf cried. "We come in peace! We're just here to investigate something!"

"Ah," the bird cooed. "I see. You've come to chart these lands, so you can stroll back down to your explorer friends, who will surely misuse the information. All so you can get paid a pretty penny, hmm?"

"No, not at all!" Leah exclaimed. "We don't plan on telling anyone we were here!"

The bird considered this, before nodding her head resoundingly. "Now I understand. Instead of providing for the desecrators, you yourselves must be the desecrators!" She puffed out her chest and screeched her final battle cry. "Prepare for your end!"

"Wait!" I screamed, getting her to impatiently hesitate for a moment. "If you at least tell us why it is that we can't be here, then we'll leave. We swear!"

Leah shot me an alarmed glance. I knew it probably didn't seem very suave that I was willing to give up the mission just like that, but I knew it was by far the best call. I caught a glimpse of Nuzleaf's reaction as well, and it was just a surprised as Leah's. I even picked up a minuscule hint of disappointment in his gaze.

"Fool!" the Mandibuzz screeched, grabbing back my attention. "I would never tell an outsider of the secrets hidden here! You will not be permitted to leave with your lives or your limbs!"

She flapped her wings with extra emphasis before opening her jaw once more and preparing another dark pulse. There was no way we could dodge it, and even though Leah was able to stop the one from before, that kind of defense was way too inconsistent to carry the weight of our lives.

"Sage!" Leah beguiled with rising panic. "If there's an escape orb in your bag, get it now!"

My bag! I only had maybe three of seconds before the attack would be launched and one or all three of us would get blown off the cliffside.

Three. I rummaged around, frantically looking for the escape orb I remembered picking up earlier.

Two. Where the hell was it? It had to be somewhere- shit!

One. For now, this would have to do.

I looked up, and the Mandibuzz was already attacking, again aiming at me since I was in the middle of the group. I chucked the blast seed I had grabbed as plan B, hoping it would burst and save me from an unpleasant end.

After several days packed full of bad luck, it was a damn good feeling watching the perfectly thrown blast seed ignite upon impact with the dark pulse. The force from the explosion was felt by all of us, and it took every bit of balance we had not to bounce off the wall and lose our footing. The Mandibuzz was a bit closer to the explosion, and faltered sightly in her flight as she let out a discombobulated screech.

Without a moment's hesitation, Leah and Nuzleaf began launching embers and razor leafs in its direction. I opened the bag again and resumed my panicked search for that escape orb. It took only a couple seconds to find it, untidily packed under a pair of apples. I whipped it out, looking up to see if we were in any immediate danger. What I saw wasn't exactly what I expected, but nonetheless made my heart freeze.

Now, there were two more birds. In the brief moment I had been rummaging for that escape orb, a Pidgeotto and a Staraptor apparently decided to join the party. I guessed they must've heard the Mandibuzz's distressed call and come to help her out. And it only got worse from there. In the distance, I could see an entire squadron of flying Pokemon honing in on us, with intentions that I rightfully assumed were aligned with the Mandibuzz's.

"Sage!" I heard Nuzleaf's distressed voice call. "I reckon this is the end of the line. Now would be a great time to get us out of here!"

The three already-present birds were approaching at an alarming speed, and I hastily smashed the escape orb. A bright light enveloped all of us, and my vision went completely white as I vaguely felt the sensation of movement.

I fell flat on my long nose as the dungeon rebuked me and my companions. Soft dirt caught the rest of the fall as I opened my eyes and tried to gather myself. After a couple seconds of clearing the foggy aftereffects of the orb from my head, I looked around and noticed we were back at the entrance to the mountain. The lawn chair was lying broken apart on its side, the reason being the befuddled Fennekin that was lying awkwardly on top of its remains. She must've gotten thrown into it.

"Ugh," Leah groaned as she pushed herself off the wooden shards. She looked down at the back of her paw, and put on a weak grimace. "I think I got a splinter."

"Still better than getting eaten by birds," I grunted as I pushed myself to a wobbly stand.

She scowled as she pulled a petite shard of wood from her paw. "You're not wrong," she replied, only half-joking.

Nuzleaf, who had been dropped a few feet to my right, picked himself up and walked over to us. "Well, shoot," he grumbled. "I really reckoned we'd find something up there, and the fact that it's so mightily guarded only supports that reckoning."

Leah coughed for a moment before asking a question we all wanted to know. "Yeah, what was with that? That was a lot of Pokemon willing to kill us just to protect some century-old myth."

"I don't know," Nuzleaf said, utterly crestfallen. He turned and gave me a dispirited look. "I-I'm sorry Sage. I reckon we couldn't find what we needed in order to help you." He then turned to both of us and looked down. "I reckon I put you both in a heaping load of danger for nothin'. I sincerely apologize for that."

I felt a lot of sympathy for the grass-type father figure in front of me. I put a vine on his shoulder and nodded my head reassuringly. "It's okay," I told him. "At least now we know there's something up there. That's progress."

"Yeah, we're really grateful you were willing to help in the first place," Leah chimed in with a smile. "It was a lot of fun, minus the part where we nearly died."

Nuzleaf looked overwhelmingly touched by our compassion, and looked like he was about to tear up. "Why, I reckon I don't deserve y'all bein' so nice to me. I do thank you sincerely."

Leah and I simultaneously embraced him, creating a group hug that lasted several heartwarming seconds. We all let go, and Nuzleaf looked a lot better.

"You two are good kids. Now come on, let's get back to the village before the sun sets."

I looked up at the sky, and promptly realized that it was already well past midday. Although it was our first time climbing, meaning we likely didn't end up taking the quickest path, it should've still been noted that we only made it about halfway up the mountain. And it took the better part of a day! I honestly hoped that whatever it was that I was looking for wasn't up there. Climbing a mountain this large, potentially even having to set up camp for one night and all while dealing with the threat of being attacked by wild Pokemon on steroids, wasn't something I intended to subject myself to.

"Hold on Mr. Nuzleaf," Leah said. "Sure, Sage and I are going back to the village, but you can't."

Nuzleaf looked surprised at her statement. "Why's that?"

I caught on immediately. "Oh yeah! Because now you have guard duty."

Leah and I began snickering uncontrollably when we saw Nuzleaf's expression transform from confusion to horrifying realization, and then to cheerless detainment.

"Oh, son of a... dagnabbit," he moaned. "Y'all don't reckon we could just tell Hippopotas about how we tricked him?"

I wagged a finger at him. "Nope. We could easily get found out if someone knew you lied about the guard post."

"Have fun Mr. Nuzleaf!" Leah teased as she began to walk away. I moved to follow her, and we quickly jogged down the path and out of sight.

"Dang kids..." was the last thing I heard him grumble before the two of us skipped out of earshot.


	17. The Cycle

Chapter 17 - The Cycle

"You fool! How many times do I have to tell you?!"

"Pops, I'm doing this!"

"You'll never make it! Everyone in the village would agree!"

"Oh yeah? We'll see!"

"Where do you think you're going?!"

Leah dashed out of her house; she looked nothing short of livid. A grimace, akin almost to a pout, had been painted under her nose. She huffed once, and a whiff of smoke residue puffed out.

This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened; the erratic Fennekin was well known to clash with her polar opposite parent figure on a daily basis. The noise was simply part of the background of Serene Village's daily choir.

The big issue here was that I knew exactly what they had been arguing about. And I knew this was a loss that I would share with her.

She quickly stormed over to me as I waited by my front door. A loud groan forced past her lips even though her exit had already telegraphed her crash-and-burn clearly enough. "Ugh! I can't believe my pops doesn't understand!"

Just as I had feared. Of course Carracosta wasn't about to just submit to such a bold idea as mine had been.

Yesterday, Leah had tried to convince her pops at the same time I had tried to convince Nuzleaf. Both of us came up miserably short. Leah's first attempt was subtle and more accommodative to her pops' wishes, who shut her down without a big fuss occurring between them. This was apparently all part of her plan, in which she intended to apply her "persuasive tactics", as she had coined it, again this morning with a little more flare and determination.

Her efforts carried her straight to the losing end of an lopsided argument—more or less a thorough scolding.

Here we stood at the crossroads, a key factor to our plans mercilessly chained by the shackles of authority. This was not the first time we had stood in this spot making plans, but the ideas we exchanged here had always fallen no further than when to visit the hill or which local biome to explore on any insignificant day. This, though, was far more critical, and the added layer of stress already seemed to have affected our mood. After all, our agenda had just been slammed into a brick wall. Things would likely prove a lot more difficult now that Nuzleaf and Carracosta knew what we aspired to do, and the more I thought about it, the more I revolved to take matters into my own hands as precious time ticked by.

But I supposed I honestly should have known that it wouldn't be this easy. We were expected to start school again in a couple months, not go frolicking away from the village in a manner that would make the adults paranoid.

Leah let out a confounded sigh to subdue some of her lingering anger. "I'm sorry Sage..." Her tone matched the remorse in her eyes. "He won't listen to anything I say. I don't know what to do."

Her words confirmed what I had already inferred. Still, they sent a wave of disappointment down my spine. "Neither do I. So far things aren't looking up." I rubbed my forehead and cringed. "—Argh, this is so frustrating!"

"Then again..." Leah began, a pint of enthusiasm picking up in her voice to expel the growing impetus in mine. "Maybe if the villagers can vouch for alove of our hard work, then my pops will have no choice but to understand!"

I bit my tongue softly, unsure that was a possibility worth considering. "...I mean, we can try to ask around, but... what makes you think anyone will support our decision to leave?"

"Because of the work we've been doing, silly!" She balanced on three legs and punched me on the arm playfully when she said this. She looked a bit awkward balancing like that, but the idealistic grin that suited her so well made her look more like herself again. "They can't ignore all the work we've done for the local community. I bet the whole village will line up to tell my pops about all the things Team Prism is capable of!"

It amazed me how quickly she could transition from seething rebellion to crestfallen defeat and then finally to her current optimistic spell. I couldn't help but smile; she certainly was polarizing. It was a positive energy so often ridiculed by the villagers, but that was priceless to me at the moment. With the weight of an imminent threat lurking that could only be tied to myself, feeding off of my partner's positivity might just carry me through the day. It genuinely made me wonder, not for the first time upon my arrival, how nobody else in this place had bothered to befriend her—an action she would surely have returned in her previous state.

Their loss.

Still—the thought pained me, but still—I had to be as realistic as possible. I couldn't say I was entirely behind Leah's plan to toss together some kind of petition that she planned to wave in her pops' face and call his loss. Even if she was on the right track and some of the adults around the village would get on board, what were the chances Carracosta would just roll over at the slightest entreaty of a third party influence? How realistic was that? It was true that she had obviously lived with her pops for far longer than I had known him, so it wasn't really my place to make the call. But I also felt like it was that very optimism that just now had me smiling that was also trying to manage something that was over the limit of plausibility.

Oh, whatever... maybe I was just being pessimistic and this would miraculously get us exactly what we wanted. Ever since yesterday's failure at Revelation Mountain, it wasn't like any alternatives had raised a hand. With that said, who was I to critique her maneuvers? She was doing this for me just as much as she was doing it for herself.

"We can start with the plaza," Leah began, setting aside some of her elation and replacing it with cardinal resolve. I followed her line of sight toward the fork in the road, and noticed some of the villagers had begun to exit their homes and disperse into the outdoors for their routine commerce.

I stared at the fork in the road contemplating the probabilities for a moment longer, before mentally shaking off the last bit of my worries to be cast away. My determined nod was met with another of her gleeful smiles.

Our plan... was it just to walk up to the nearest adult and ask them 'what would you think if we ran off for some unexplained reason?' I was finding it incredibly hard to believe that that would be a realistic approach if we honestly wanted positive results. That was just asking to be laughed at.

I never got a chance to voice this to Leah, however, who bounded forward the moment the plaza's orange wooden gate was within range. Not wanting to be left behind, I jogged after her just as we had done so many times through this area, naturally when matters were not as dire. A pang of sadness pricked my heart; would we ever get to experience enjoying each other's company across these turquoise grasses again?

...No. There was no time to worry about that. The issue at hand still needed to be addressed, and standing around moping wouldn't mend a thing.

A sound ahead drew my attention from the green. A few of the villagers stood around in the plaza, seemingly gathering for a specified purpose that extended beyond a simple chat. Leah was standing in the midst calling out to someone, and it took me a moment of approaching to realize that it wasn't me. A bird, evidently one with the biology favoring water rather than land, hovered above the peckering villagers. Such a creature had never been seen before in my time in Serene Village, so the sight brought me closer all the quicker. Such was the curiosity of one living a straightforward life and suddenly given a glimpse of the other side.

"Pelliper! Oh my goodness it's been so long!" Leah hailed down the fat pelican that was just about to glide away.

"—Oh! Why hello, young one!" the pelican greeted in an accent that sounded a bit more uniform than what i had grown used to hearing. He gave us a friendly wave of his wing, which Leah returned by flicking her ears. "I remember you from my visit a while back. I see you've still got plenty of spunk in your trunk!"

"What's in the mail?" the Fennekin asked.

Lombre, Raticate, and Hippopotas were all crowded around Pelliper when we arrived, and upon hearing her question, tuned their eyes toward him with spotlight eagerness. I had never heard of this Pelliper guy, and he had never visited the village ever since my arrival a couple months back; still, I could easily deduce from the looks on everyone's faces that his presence must mean excitement. Judging by Leah's question and doubled by the obvious mail bag slung around the flying-type's shoulders, this excitement came in the form of a delivery.

"Something you country folk might find a little interesting," he said in a hesitant tone. "It's a weird world out there, I tell you. I've gotta go hit the next town, so until next time!"

He extended his wings, and with a farewell nod of his enormous yellow beak, he took to the skies once more. Left behind for us was a large stack of what appeared to be newspapers.

Lombre picked one up, and Hippopotas and Raticate crowded around him to see. A sudden gasp from Lombre quickly caught mine and Leah's attention, and we tried to get around them to get a good look.

"Look at this!" Lombre exclaimed, pointing at something on the front page.

"Heavens above!" Raticate blurted when he followed where Lombre was pointing. "There's a new bistro open in Lively Town!"

"Not that you dingus! This!" Lombre punched him on the arm and jabbed his finger at a point on the paper with excessive emphasis.

Unwilling to deal with their abstract conference, I nabbed one of the papers from the stack with my vines and held it out for Leah and I to read. The headline was emboldened and, by design, caught the eye of anyone skimming along the front page.

Ninth Pokemon Turned to Stone this Month: A National Crisis!  
Water Continent National Guard to Finally Initiate Full Investigation!

The headline initially made me roll my eyes. What kind of bogus was this Lively Town media cooking up? Were they so out of ideas that it was just another day at the office to claim that a living, breathing creature could become—

Then I saw the picture. It was an odd-looking Pokemon: a spherical blue body with circular arms made of what looked like cotton that were just as large as its actual frame. 'Jumpluff' was what the paper said the name was. I scrutinized for details: she was a citizen of a district near Lively Town, who was active in local politics and ran a pastry shop. This potentially significant information was unfortunately deemed useless upon reading a recount of some other victims of this phenomenon later in the article. These were just random Pokemon living their lives, and the text grasped in my vines was claiming that their bodies were being transformed into rock. What the hell?

But the picture of that Jumpluff was what really got me thinking. It looked so real! I couldn't explain it, but it just made sense from viewing the picture that was capitalized on by the article below it. The print boasted decent quality, the colors rendering seamlessly onto the top left-hand corner of the front page article. Not that coloration mattered when displaying the flavorless nothings of a rock.

It wasn't the immaculate detail of the victim's "body", but instead her face that grabbed hold of my comprehending gaze. The emotion of fear, lip curled back in the beginnings of a scream—a scream she would never get to finish. The paper had pronounced her as deceased as a result of the unusual predicament. If the outlandishness being claimed here was actually true, I would find it hard to argue that this Pokemon still clung to life.

The concept of being turned into a literal rock—a _rock!_ —didn't sit right with me. Not so much the validity of its occurrence, but rather the extension of its cruelty. How could the microscopic particles of a body blessed with the gift of life be rearranged to become one with the inanimate stone that could be found in the earth? On the sidewalk? Arteries and nerves rendered obsolete by some defiance of the laws of physics. Brain matter that should contain every memory and personality trait of a real individual being, transformed into the gravel that I would walk on every day to go to school. It simply didn't compute.

It had to be bullshit, right?

Of course. It had to be.

A sharp gasp to my right confirmed that my partner's initial ambiguity had been profoundly contested just as mine had.

"What the... that's—" she trailed off in her skepticism and allowed silence to linger.

"—impossible," I finished for her. Not that it really mattered; the statement already went unspoken.

"Bah!" Lombre exclaimed with narrowed eyes. He crumpled up the paper in his claws and placed it on his hat; he'd presumably discard it later. "It's probably the latest fear-inducing rhetoric cooked up by the Lively Tribune, intending to scare those of us who couldn't give a damn for their extremist idealism."

Lombre's politics, which he ranted on for several more seconds as I drowned it out in the background, might have amused me if not for the sudden weight in the air. Despite my memory predicament, I felt strongly about who I was and what my personal traits were, and that included a natural instinct to question everything. This report could all be forged for attention and monetary gain by this "Lively Tribune" that featured it on the front page.

So why did it catch my eye like this? Maybe it was because of the difficult to forge such an internationally pressing story, or perhaps it was my newfound Exploration Society motives that let this invade my thoughts. Maybe it was even me just acting paranoid about every little overturned leaf in the forest.

Raticate and Hippopotas didn't look all too convinced by Lombre's conclusion of media manipulation. What he said could have made sense perhaps, but they seemed to come to an unfortunate conclusion of their own: one that seemingly followed in the article's declarations. And what better timing for word of this distant drama reaching Serene Village than when Leah and I were about to campaign for our ticket out of here?

"That's insane," Raticate said, still taken aback from what he'd read. "Pokemon turning to stone? How does that even work?"

"I vouldn't know," answered Hippopotas in a high pitch that articulated his surprise. "I certainly hope zat ze culprit stays far from ze village. 'Tis why I moved here to ze country, to stay away from all ze bad commotion in ze towns and cities."

Raticate nodded his profound agreement. Lombre just rolled his eyes, but then nodded at the comment about living in the city.

"Um, excuse me," Leah interjected into their conversation, getting their attention. Better now than never. "We wanted to ask you all for your support on something."

"You need our support? Whatever for?" Raticate asked.

Instead of answering, Leah nudged me, turning her head to look at me expectantly. She twitched her ears toward the three adults.

"W-what?" I stammered at her in a hushed volume. "Hey, this was your idea! You do the talking, you're better at it anyway!"

"I do the thinking, you do the talking," she answered smugly. A self-satisfied smirk was plastered on her face. She was clearly enjoying messing with me while the last residue of the morning fog was yet to clear out of my brain.

"It's the other way around, Leah," I moaned, before putting on a grin and returning fire. "But since you're in such dire need of my abilities as usual, I'll suppose I'll carry the load this time."

"Hmph. You're cold, Smugleaf," she teased. Her face got serious as soon as she punctuated her response, however, and she gave me a nod of affirmation. "Seriously though, try not to screw it up. This is all we got left to try."

"What are you kids jabberin' about?" Lombre questioned loudly, grabbing our attention away from each other.

"Sorry," I responded politely. "We just wanted to get your opinion on something."

"What would that be?"

I cleared my throat. I was still a bit apprehensive of a negative response, likely stemming from the pessimism I had mentally expressed toward this last resort of an idea. They could end up seriously considering this question, or they might just laugh their asses off. There was one way to find out.

"What would you think of me and Leah leaving the village?"

I said it. And they stared.

I began to feel a lot like I had when I had told the class of my human origin. There had been a silence that suspended the surrounding disbelief in the air for an unbearably long moment. Now, even though it was impossible to immediately read the thought processes that were bred from the receiving end of the question, I instantly felt the same heat rise to my head as doubt poked at the edges of my skull, washing away some of the confidence I had built up.

Hippopotas took the honors of speaking up first. "You...? Leaving ze village? For vat reason?"

Answering this, I knew, would prove to be the hard part. I truly did have a logical reason to leave as soon as possible, but problem was that we couldn't actually voice this reason to any of the villagers due to the complication of my human origin and its undiscerned ties into the Beeheyem's offensive. Telling them about it would certainly warrant a similar reaction to that of my classmates on that day when Pancham asked where I was from. It was incredibly frustrating to run into this kind of roadblock again, but it was only to be expected that we would. It probably wouldn't be the last time, either.

"Just... think about it," I continued casually, hoping to veer away from his question. "Leah and I are pretty experienced with handling ourselves outside of the village. Don't you think we would be alright if we were to leave for an extended period of time?"

"Where would you go?" Lombre inquired.

Leah piped up before I could throw together an answer. "Lively Town!"

As if they hadn't already experienced a village week's worth of shock in just the past few minutes, the three adults in front of us grew wide eyes once more.

Raticate would break the silence this time with a conflicted voice. "You two? Go to Lively Town?" Upon Leah nodding confirmation, he let out a morose sigh that dumpster'd the remaining residue of my hope that wasn't already scraped away by the claws of realistic inference. "Listen, kids, you two have put in a lot of hard work in the recent days. In a way, we're all proud of the little jobs you've been able to complete for your exploring game. But, Lively Town is far away, and there are dangerous places along the way there. It's no place for you two."

 _Exploring game? Little jobs? We fought a Salamence! We save lost Pokemon on the daily! Where's our respect?_

The irony of it all led me to a small step below outright blowing up at the three now regarding us with discontempt. The villagers were conscious of the safety parameters of our activity to a level that might as well be considered perfectionism, all while it was they who were in danger of the very thing I was trying to lead away from them. After everything we had done for them, just to be written of as a child's intuition! Was it not because of us—the two social outliers of the village!—that the valley was a much more profient land than what preceded Team Prism? Sure there weren't many issues with the environment to begin with, but I never saw anyone going the extra mile to do the work that we had been doing.

I wanted to thoroughly voice my irritations, but Lombre decided to drop his own opinion before I could smack down mine.

"Yep. City folk may not be as hardened and capable as us country folk, but they're cunning and manipulative. You two wouldn't last a day, no offense intended."

I scoffed, this time more than happy to speak up. "I'm pretty sure we've done at least one job for each one of you three that you couldn't handle yourself." I raised an eyebrow as a challenge. "You're seriously telling us that we wouldn't last a day?"

He frowned. "Now, you too are still a wee bit too young to fully comprehend the bustle of business and the properties of sustaining yourselves. You'd best respect your elders and stay away from those kinds of dangers for now. Sorry, but that's just how it goes." Before I could snap back, Lombre tipped his hat at us and the three adults walked away towards the cafe, presumably to discuss that crazy article in a more media-oriented environment.

"What a load of—urgh!" I huffed through my nostrils in frustration and glanced over at Leah. Most of the enthusiasm that had captivated her barely ten minutes ago was stripped away by the adult's words. Replacing it was an uncertainty that was mostly there to hide the heavy anxiety I could tell she was feeling deep down.

"Hey, don't worry about them," I told her as an attempt to cheer her up. "There's still plenty of adults around here who might support us."

She sighed, hesitating a moment before lifting her eyes and meeting mine. "Yeah, you're right..." she murmured, the orange on the tip of her tail dipping towards the earth below along with her mood. "It's just that I expected a slightly better response than that. I mean, 'little jobs'? Seriously? If my pops actually knew about half of the dangerous stuff we did for our Society work, he'd probably ground me from exploring just out of sheer worry."

"Yeah, I hear you... But hey, if they don't want to acknowledge our skills, then we'll just find someone who does. There's bound to be someone who recognizes what we can do around here." I gestured a hand toward the cafe and recovered a grin. "They can't all be blind, right?"

Uplifted again, she nodded and smiled brightly. Her ears twitched with exposed gratification.

"Come on! Let's go ask around some more!"

* * *

It didn't work. Not in the cafe; not anywhere else.

Leah and I hadn't gotten much excersize from our diplomatics, but the failure that it brought left us just about exhausted of the will to continue. We sat side-by-side on a bench in the square: Leah was grooming her tail to give her mind some distraction, while I simply stared at the sky and occupied my eyes by riding the clouds.

I was fairly certain I now understood what Leah had meant that day when she'd confessed her envy for the clouds in the sky. The need to be free was, of course, at the root of her struggle— _our_ struggle. But acquiring that freedom would come with adversity, and failure, and would make us look like fools.

We were the only ones who knew—who _understood_ —why I had to leave. And because of that, we were labeled insane.

My previous conception that this couldn't get much worse was now telling me to hold its drink. In blunt terms, the results gotten from the petition pretty much made the conclusion to the Revelation Mountain debacle yesterday look like a gold mine. Everybody we asked so far had shut us down with pious venting of the dangers of the outside world. I detected an unmistakable bias pitted against the thought of us visiting urban regions in particular, which I couldn't exactly deny since our initial destination was supposed to be Lively Town.

The worst part was that by the time we had gotten to asking most of the village adults, they had already read the newspaper that was distributed. This gave them a prime excuse involving the "turned to stone" report, and they more often than not would make sure to mention it in order to push their argument. I found it ironic how one moment some will speculate its authenticity, but then spin around and treat the article as damn-near indisputable scripture for the sake of convenience. It thoroughly pissed me off, but I knew that calling out any form of ignorance would only lessen our chances of gaining support. It was a perfect storm of disaster.

Leah and I did get a lot of recognition for our work as Team Prism, but that hardly mattered when our true objective was either laughed or gawked at in the same breath. All who we had left to ask was the schoolteachers, who I already knew would be a waste of time to trouble with our ideas.

I thought for a moment longer. Then again, Simipour might've been one to look on the adventitious side of things. The only problem was that he also had a level head, meaning that it wasn't plausible that he'd condone two minors out alone in the wild. Still, there remained a slight bit of hope with asking him. What else was there?

I voiced this to Leah, who shook the clouds out of her thoughts and considered it, albeit with a spirit that had been dampened by the failures prior. "Sure thing, I guess we can give it a shot. I'll go see what there is at the school, while you rould up our classmates and ask them about it."

"Our classmates?" I squinted. "Why would your pops or Nuzleaf listen to their opinions?"

She shot me a deflated gaze. "What else do we have?"

Hearing this brought out another condoned sigh, something I felt like I had heard or breathed myself too many times in a single day. This was simply not turning out the way either of us had hoped it would. It was hardly even noon and I just wanted to lay down and bury my head under a pillow.

"I guess," I said with a suppressed yawn. "I think Simipour is in his office today doing paperwork, so I guess we'll be splitting up."

Leah got off the bench we were sitting on and began to head down to the school. I hopped off the bench a moment later, stretched my limbs, and began walking toward the hill with the tree. I thought I had seen Goomy and Deerling over there earlier, so I figured this would be the best place to check since I hadn't seen them while Leah and I were unsuccessfully petitioning the town.

The walk there was nothing short of serene. I paused more than once to observe the scenery; this path made me want to forget about all of the issues I was dealing with. The sun wasn't at its peak quite yet, and a gentle breeze coursing through the woods would occasionally trickle past my slim frame. The atmosphere whispered its abundant amity to me through all five senses, cleansing them of the disquietude that clogged my brain. The leaves stood a mixture of gold and green, and danced at a wavelength orchestrated by the wind.

I realized how much nicer it was to be out here where the light bustle of the village center couldn't pose a distraction. I almost hoped that I wouldn't find anyone at the hill, just so I could enjoy all of this in a minute of silence overlooking the village. It might be the last time I get to see it, right?

...And just like that, the weight was back.

* * *

My arrival at the hill was anticipated by the figure standing at the top. She didn't even have to look behind her to notice my presence. But I already knew that much about her.

"Hello Sage," Espurr casually greeted without turning around. Her voice carried a pitch of cheer that I had come to expect in recent days talking with her as our friendship had grown, but also an undertone of regularity that sent a pang through my chest. So calm—she had no idea what I was about to confide in her.

"Hi," I said, maintaining a steady voice for the time being. "What are you doing up here?"

She reserved a moment to breathe in some of the the vanilla air that surrounded us, and then turned around to look at me with her trademark pastoral gaze.

"I'm taking in the view. The weather is wonderful this morning."

I walked up and stood beside her. "Yeah, it sure is."

I felt like an idiot as soon as the words left my mouth. So much for maintaining a steady voice; that was no better than collapsing into the hallowed grass in distress and throwing my curses to the wind. I could literally hear the disturbed undertone that dripped from my vocal cords with each syllable, despite my meager attempt to not be this obvious. The fact that the mentally-proficient psychic-type next to me picked up on it came as no surprise. She knew me well enough, perhaps as well as I knew myself.

"What's the matter?" she asked, turning her head and tilting it slightly in concern. "You're clearly troubled by something." Her brow furrowed and her head tilted a degree further. "Aren't you usually off exploring by now?"

"Uh, well..."

I hit a brick wall. The question I had asked probably two dozen times today to clueless villagers caught in my throat and mutinied my demands for its passage.

I knew I'd probably face some emotional adversity by telling my friends what my plans were, but what was this? The fact that I decided to leave in the first place should be proof that I prioritize doing what is necessary above doing what was favorable to an emotional influence. Just say it man! 'I'm leaving. Will you support me?'

I then realized how incomprehensibly stupid _that_ would sound. With the adults it was different, because even though I valued their hospitality, they did not have the comradery that I felt with Espurr. I honestly felt a little flustered by this line of thinking. It was true that Espurr had become a dear friend to me, one that I could customarily depend on. I knew this well, but had we really grown this close?

If so, was I making a mistake?

Reminiscing over the events of the past couple of days only doubled down on my self-doubt. What friend was I? Agreeing to leave with my partner without a moment's thought, but struggling to even tell Espurr that I was even leaving in the first place. Where was the consideration? The dependability—

"Sage!"

I shook my head wearily, and realized the awkward pause I had accidentally established between us. Espurr wore double the concern of before, obviously wondering why I had spaced out like I was a mental patient.

"Are you okay? What's the matter?"

At least she didn't take the liberty of reading through all of that in my mind. I probably would've been able to notice her doing it anyway (she had done it enough times to tease me that I had picked up on it) but I nonetheless found relief in her unenlightened response. Still, the emphasis on her gaze clarified that she could detect the discomfort that had been raging through my head all day.

Another sigh I afforded to this young day. This one was perhaps a bit better-suited for how I felt now that my emotions concerning the pressing agenda had been flipped on their head. But enough time had been wasted; she needed an answer. Wasn't I the one who approached her?

So I said it.

"What... what would you think if I were to leave the village?"

Her eyes lit up with vague understanding of the individual words but blunt dismay at the whole question. "Leave the village? For what purpose?"

That probably wasn't the best way to go about this. I should have just explained this and gotten it over with, right? With that said, why was this so hard? _Why?_

Even with Nuzleaf, I expressed my plans as if I was bringing up the topic of the weather. And with Leah, it was sweet and simple, albeit a bit more troublesome to get out. The kind of hesitation that was strangling me now was defying my typical nature, and I couldn't explain it. I forced myself to settle with a dodgy answer, praying it would suffice. The way I jumbled it up made even this small prayer hit a wall.

"Uh, well... j-just theoretically speaking, do you think that I'd be able to survive out there? I-In the wild I mean. If I were to leave and go someplace else like, um... maybe Lively Town?" I blinked as innocently as I could. "—Just an example, of course."

She looked at me with her eyes faintly narrowed, her gaze transitioning to confusion again. In a consistently passive voice, she spoke. "You avoided the question."

I looked at her, and she looked at me back. My instinctive strategy to gain the upper hand in this confession by mumbling and bumbling my way through was was crumbling under the pressure of her raw intelligence, as it probably should've. It was no use. Continuing to beat around the bush wasn't going to do anything except continue to make me look like an artless prick. I would have no more.

Deep breath.

"Espurr... I'm leaving the village. It-It's the Beeheyem. They're after me for some reason—I _know_ they are—and..."

The comprehension and concern in her gaze simultaneously returned, meshing together undividedly. She paused like this for a moment, before abrupt realization blanketed these reactive emotions with a more potent influence.

"What?" Espurr queried. Her voice now voided itself of her typical indifference, and was shaded with more colors of emotion than what she usually preferred to exhibit. "...Is this because of what happened to me in the meadow?"

I looked at the right side of her forehead, and noticed the cut was still mostly visible. It didn't look like it would scar or anything permanent like that, but it was definitely no measly paper cut. In a fit of concern and perhaps a bit of courage as well, I gently pressed a vine to her soft forehead where the small wound was, drawing from her the smallest of gasps.

I found myself unable to answer her question. "Look," I began solemnly, retracting the tendril and staring off at the distant view of the village to avoid meeting her eyes. "Something's... wrong here... w-with those Beeheym, I mean. There's a deeper reason they attacked me, and I think it has everything to do with why I'm a Snivy and have no memories. I just... I just can't get anyone here involved in that kind of thing, okay? I just can't!"

She was silent for a moment, touching a hand to the extended tuft of hair on her forehead that housed the dried wound, her cheeks sporting a mild shade of pink that was faintly visible under her fur. After a moment that passed too soon, she summoned her analytic personality to the surface and her face became focused again.

She hummed in stark consideration and lowered her chin a few degrees. "I suppose that makes sense. But you avoided my question again."

"I-I just don't want anyone to get hurt," I whispered. It was now an effort to keep tears from forming at the corners of my eyes. "I know y-you can handle yourself just fine, but this could end up bigger than either of us. And what about the others? What if something happens to an innocent villager who's just doing his daily work out in the woods?"

It would be her who sighed this time. Struggling to find her words, she glanced up at me with eyes that burned right through to my soul. "I can't say I know much about the affair you have with the Beeheyem besides what we witnessed at the meadow, but I do know that it's unfair to blame yourself for their actions."

"Is it?" I challenged. "How could I not blame myself if something bad were to happen to someone, knowing that I could have left and prevented it? We know that the Beeheyem are after me, and we know that they have dangerous capabilities and motives, most of which we probably don't even know about yet."

I stared straight at her now, determined sorrow backing my features in what was meant to be a declaration of finality. The dam behind my eyes was so close to bursting—there were already cracks at the seam. "Yes, Espurr. This is _exactly_ because of what happened to you."

She was pleading now; another shade of emotion had been added to her voice. "...But where can you go? This is the only place you know, this is your _home_ —"

"This isn't my home!"

Perhaps shouting it was a bit unnecessary. Unfortunately, at the time, I really didn't have a mind to care, or even really notice. Everything was crumbling around me; first the hope that I'd get to leave with my morals in balance, and then the determination to even go through with it at all. The pressure of everything: the Beeheyem, the lost memories, the immutable foreignness of this world in spite of any artificial familiarity I conjured up. It was all fake, just some hogwash conjured up simply to maintain my sanity.

Everything that I had procrastinated for the sake of making my own accommodation rushed at me all at once, the psychological impact enough to stun the hierarchy of my spirit. All I could do was continue talking, continue venting. To my friend, another walking example of someone dragged into something that shouldn't have been. Pain that should have been mine, however minuscule, inflicted in the wrong direction. I hated it all, hated this place and hated the answers that it refused to give me.

"This isn't... isn't right! I'm being targeted by something and... and I'm not supposed to be here!" I held my head in my hands. "None of this is right!"

"Sage, it's alr-"

"No it isn't! Espurr, I don't know anything about _anything_!" I was almost hyperventilating now; the tangent would not end. All of my negativity was here, out in the open, and it held no bars. "I don't know why I'm here! I don't know where 'here' even is! I... I don't even know _who I am_!"

I was finished with it all. Whatever this was... some kind of test, some kind of redaction of my spirit; it had been grinding my morale to dust, and was now forcing me to make a decision that I didn't want to make. Espurr could only watch as I broke down in front of her, unable to ignore the bigger picture any longer and maintain my integrity. It was the bigger picture that fate would not allow me to see for reasons that fate would not allow me to know. It continued in an endless cycle of ignorance, of knowledge infinitely withheld. Where was there room to reminisce?

There was no capability to feel anything for a past that simply refuses to exist; no room for learning from it, or holding onto what matters. Could I even call these Pokemon my friends, when the very fact that they are Pokemon should prevent me from knowing them in the first place? Could they even call me their friend, when all I was doing for them is leading them toward an inclining climax of crossed worlds? Could I stay here and say that I was doing the right thing with this kind of force suspended over my brief memorable past? Was it morally correct for the breath that exited my lungs during this traumatic moment to even undergo the chemical processes necessary to keep me alive, knowing that it could potentially mean that someone close to me might not be able to claim the same necessity as a direct result? Even now, after those who I called friends were hurt by my presence, was there really repentance to be found?

More questions piled up. No answers were present to meet them. It was a cycle manufactured for my destruction, and it would never end.

I couldn't confront the Beeheyem and ask them what their motives were. I knew this already, and it wasn't going to change. Doing so could result in a number of horrific outcomes, none of which would satisfy this cruel spectrum of withheld knowledge. I wasn't going to sacrifice myself to them for the village either, because I simply didn't know who to completely trust. I hated it so much, hated that my selfishness could determine me to put them in danger like that, but it was undeniable. With all things considered, I truly could not trust anyone. How could I, when the only thing in this world that I for-sure knew was that someone or something was keeping information from me? Using it against me? Using me?

How could I really trust Nuzleaf, or Carracosta, or the Beeheyem, or even Espurr, when they had fallen right into my lap? The only exception I could begin to make was Leah, who it had seemed like fate had all but tried to keep us apart. But even with her, what could I do to favor her without compromising myself to the cruelty of possibility? No, making decisions based off of trust would have to be through myself, untouched by anyone's influence. Right? _Right?_

I hated it, and I hated myself for it. I hated it all, and yet I didn't even know what I was supposed to hate. Which only made me hate it more. It swirled inside of me, the tempest of my sanity, and it embodied the endless cycle that I realized I might never break free of.

"I don't know anything, except that I'm a danger to everyone," I choked out, my thoughts summed up in eleven words. "I can't... I can't do this, I just—"

I believe I had described Espurr as a pillow once. It was that time she hugged me after I fell into the river at the school, when I was still mildly wet from the unfortunate plunge. This time it was only my eyes that were moist as her softness captivated my senses. Her embrace was designed to evaporate the plaguing negativity, and I'd have been lying to say it wasn't crafted with pristine quality toward its intended profession. I returned it as best I could, hoping it would stifle some of the cannons firing in my chest.

"I know you're probably confused and upset right now," she breathed in the softest tone possible. "I can't even begin to imagine how you feel considering the circumstances of what's happened to you."

I didn't answer, so she continued.

"—And I know you don't know much of anything about what's happened, but... I'll be there for you. Everyone will. You can _trust_ us, Sage. And no matter what you decide to do about the Beeheyem, you'll have the support of everyone behind you."

The words stabbed me like a bittersweet knife. It was exactly what I needed to hear, and yet I knew it wouldn't be smart to agree. I should satisfy the instinct of self-sustenance and leave without a word. That way, I could seperate myself from those who logic claims I can't trust, and those innocent will be spared of involvement in depredation that spans bigger destinies than anyone can imagine.

But... I couldn't do that. Or I could, but I refused to. I refused to take the more intelligent path. Claiming it was some moral obligation was just a facade. I was up here, pouring my troubles out to Espurr like two old friends would do.

Because despite everything, I _did_ trust her. With everything I had.

I did trust my classmates, and I did trust Leah, and Nuzleaf, and every other villager. Because I knew, in my heart, that they were good Pokemon.

That was exactly why it hurt so much to do this.

And thus the cycle continued, eternally grinding against my soul.

* * *

My ultimatum was midnight. That was all I'd settle for. Leah had no complaints, and the gambit was settled once and for all.

With a heavy heart, I whispered an inaudible apology to Nuzleaf, snoring in the other room. I thanked him for everything, from taking me into his home to risking his neck for the sake of aiding with my situation. The thought that I would likely never get to repay him made me begin to tear up, so I made haste putting distance between myself and home.

Home. This was my home, was it not? I had fervently denied it, but now that I stood on the outside looking in, it was undeniable. Out here in the pitch blackness of a new moon, the gravity of what I was leaving behind made itself present.

And I refused to look at its image. Because now was not the time for regret. I would not be influenced to turn around, not now. I just had to move.

I barely heard the whispering to my left, and I jumped. I already knew who it was, but my nerves had been shot all day, a direct result of the pounding stress. From the lack of success in the morning to the collapse on the hill to spending the rest of the day preparing to compromise with the intangible force that I pointlessly hated. Not a wink of sleep was stolen, sleep that I would probably need in the coming hours where more stress, and with increased potency, was guaranteed to follow. All I could do was pray that my partner, who was currently whispering her own silent goodbyes to her pops, had managed to find slumber. And if not, then I hoped she at least found peace in this. Peace that was impossible for me to find in any of the decisions I could have made. Thus is the malicious nature of sacrifice.

"Ready to go?" she asked, unable to mask her voice breaking with sorrow.

I barely heard her, but I managed a nod. After a couple seconds of gathering together the shard of a heavy heart, I found my voice. "Yeah, I'm ready. Got the bag? The money?"

Leah nodded, slinging the pack we had both put together over her shoulder and patting the sling twice with her paw.

"Alright," I said, shoving aside my fragmented emotions and relying on pure wit to get me through the upcoming stretch. We were going to go to Lively Town. Until then, we'd need to escape the village, and survive a good ways through the Water Continent's jagged country. We were going to go much farther out that either of us had ever gone in our lives. It was only supposed to be a couple day's journey if done right, but that was easier said than done.

 _Just one step at a time, Sage. Use your head and your wits and get through this._

We reached the fork in the road, and we both simultaneously halted. We turned to face each other, both of us with something lying on the bridge of our tongues. One brief look into each other's eyes confirmed that we both were about to stop the other for the same reason.

"Just one last time," Leah whispered.

"Yeah..." I answered. "One last time."

The southbound walk through the edge of the woods posed no issue despite the concrete lack of light. Leah and I had traversed this simple dirt path so many times now that we both could have walked it backwards with our eyes closed. Just another familiarity that I was about to willingly toss to the wind. Another valuable chip of my being that I would shove aside for the sake of survival, so that it could haunt me later instead of now. Little things like this were so minuscule, and yet they had a tendency to add up and weigh you down wholeheartedly, often when least convenient.

Oh well, nothing was to be done with it. I wasn't turning back now. Definitely not turning back now.

We approached the hill. We began walking up the hill. We'd done it before; it was all habitual, all mutual expectation. The walk was so enamoring, and I wasn't sure whether I should feel respectfully proud or respectfully upset. Sticking with my intended mentality for this particular night, I reserved myself to simply feel nothing at all.

The view would come to change that. There was nothing new to it, no sudden realization or change of perspective to be honed. It was the same old view of everything that I had ever known. Everything that we had ever known. No uplifting change in the three-dimensional canvas made itself known. The only difference this time was the pain it brought.

Everything I felt bubbling inside me surfaced for the second time today, and I took a long, deep breath. I would not cry, not again and not here. I would not...

I could hear Leah quietly sobbing to my right. Everything was coming to her at once, and she was experiencing pain that perhaps I couldn't comprehend. She had been here for far longer.

Another deep breath.

I stared out into the night, and I remembered it all.

Another deep breath.

Espurr comforting me in this exact patch of grass hours before.

Another breath.

Nuzleaf taking me in without a second thought, and showing me the meaning of family in situation designed to prevent such a relation.

Inhale.

My other classmates, and the unit that we were. Deerling and her determination to do the right thing. Goomy and his youth and potential. Pancham and Shelmet and their recklessness.

Exhale.

It all looped around to the Fennekin crying silently next to me. The one I trusted the most. The one who would feel the same pain of separation as the others, but from my side of the split rather than theirs.

With this realization suddenly came immeasurable gratefulness that I would not have to be alone. On this very hill, on a night similar to this one, this was what we had pledged. We had promised to never leave each other alone, and embedded our words into the mysterious harmony scarves that we now shared. I found it fitting that, again on this hill, we would be cutting our final ties from everything we knew for the sake of keeping this promise.

A vine rested on her shoulder, working to comfort the both of us equally, and every emotional burden that had built up to this point finally overtook the dam holding it back. The stress, the pain - it would all be left here. With each of our tears carried every misgiving we had, shared or personal. They would stain the grass, and evaporate under the raging sun in the distant morning, never to be felt again under the blinding heat of the future.


	18. Gone With the Wind

Chapter 18 - Gone With The Wind

What should've been a short-distance search for two disobedient kids would instead skip straight to a long-distance search for two runaway delinquents. We had lost valuable time. There was meant to be a buffer for us in the form of the village defeating itself with its own confinement, but not anymore. All because we tried to do the right thing.

The morning sun had long since arrived, now nearing the summit of its skyward climb. It was hard not to imagine Carracosta and Nuzleaf awakening to find that Leah and I, respectively, were missing from our beds. It had probably already happened. What should've been at least a half-day of confusion circulating around the village to our whereabouts was now narrowed to the time it took for anyone to speak up that we had declared Lively Town.

Perhaps we had been too naive. Not an ideal start embarking into the big bad world.

I shook off the thought. There was no one to fairly blame. Asking around for support was the right course of action at the time even with the obvious risk in mind. Well... in hindsight it wasn't so much, but it was a desperate last ditch effort that was, if nothing else, good-natured. At least we tried to do the right thing.

The only positive, besides how elementary our midnight-escape turned out, was the distance we had made during the minimal hours of nighttime at our disposal. We had trudged past the foothills on the far-eastern ridge of the valley, and as the sun came up we could look back and see an expanse of land stretching out behind us, distantly calling us back. We were high up at that point; in contempt of the weariness that had settled upon our spirits, we were lifted up a bit by the view.

I could see it all—Serene Village, all the dungeons that we had charted and conquered. _Our_ valley. I could even see as far as the general region of woodland where my fateful awakening had taken place.

It was all simply beautiful. This _world_ was simply beautiful.

Notwithstanding, I was tired physically, mentally, and my emotions were all tied up in a knot in the aftermath of my psyche's poorly-times disintegration. Thus, my real work began.

Footsteps to my left served as a correcting reminder— _our_ real work.

I shot Leah a quick glance. It was hard to tell what was going on in the Fennekin's head as she walked alongside me, but it was plain she wasn't operating at one-hundred percent either.

I began to briefly wonder why she had so fervently insisted on coming with me instead of staying back. There had been little discussion on the issue, as it had been her to suggest it and I had seen no reason to argue. But something told me that if I had contested her on the matter, then I would've been fighting a losing battle.

Sure, I could believe that she wanted to leave that place at the first opportunity she got, and it didn't really surprise me that she actually went through with it. Rather, it was the fact that she kept after it even after our initial plan collapsed that wouldn't lay off my mind. A couple times it was actually me who needed encouragement to figure it all out, and her providing it, rather than the other way around. Wasn't I supposed to be the resolute half, the one seeking purpose? The commitment she put into her aspirations was industrious on almost an unrealistic level, even if those aspirations were built around someone else's necessities rather than her own.

I could learn from her selflessness.

For the millionth time I wished I was a psychic-type, on this occasion so that I could read her mind and maybe come to understand her dynamic personality.

Boom. Guilt.

Psychic-types. Mind reading. Espurr. Left behind. The one who who had helped me carry the hidden burdens that were my tormentors ever since I woke up in this beautifully malevolent place.

Every time she crossed my thoughts, an endless pit formed in my stomach that threatened my breathing rhythm. My principles were in my legs: I would keep moving no matter what. I would reach Lively Town no matter what, and if that didn't work out, then I would fignite this out elsewhere.

Still, the depth of the pit in my gut, the weight it held on my heart, the speculation of how she and everyone else would feel, all made me wonder just how much of myself I'd left back in Serene Village that I would never get back.

Espurr would undoubtedly feel tossed aside, regarded as nothing more than a temporary accomplice.

 _A temporary accomplice?_

I scowled at the thought. All because of me. It stabbed at my heart knowing that everyone that I considered my friend would feel this way, but after my breakdown on the hill, the thought of Espurr hurt the most. It was not a question of if she, or anyone else in the village for that matter, felt betrayed. It was simply a question of just how resolutely it was felt, and if it would ever fade in time.

But it didn't matter. I wouldn't be going back, right? I would never see any of them again, or at least not for a long time, probably after this whole memory loss thing was figured out. And then who's to say I wouldn't go back to the human world, in which I wouldn't have to worry about seeing anyone again? These were things I had to consider for the sake of keeping myself sane in this unstable predicament. It was as simple as not getting too attached to anyone, and staying focused on my own needs...

But then why did thinking about them make me feel so awful?

With a small gasp, I steered myself away from walking right off the sloped path. Audibly exhaling out of my nose, I shook my head. This place was dangerous. This entire trip was dangerous. But, in large part, that was because my _existence_ was apparently dangerous. That had been exactly why I left.

Perhaps it was just weakness in my heart that allowed myself to get attached to what had been given to me in this world. Or—Or maybe a better explanation lied in the circumstance of how life in the village was quite literally all I had ever known. A home. Three meals a day. Education. Friends. _Friends._

Adapting to a different environment was never something I really had much reason to consider, and not knowing hardly anything about myself made the concept exceptionally more intimidating. Now, I had no choice but to acclimate to whatever our destination held. The idea of an urban society instantly set me on edge when I thought about what I should be able to expect. All of the faces and the noise; would I be overwhelmed? Even the Fennekin beside me, who had been chomping at the bit to reach Lively Town ever since our encounter with that strange Ampharos fellow, would likely experience some initial complications trying to harmonize with such a drastic change of pace.

Or... maybe she wouldn't. Perhaps maybe I wouldn't either, and this would all go smoothly. But somehow, I doubted that. Even the tiny settlement of Serene Village had me in a slightly flustered state upon my arrival. The circumstances were a bit different then, sure, but still not enough to balance the proportions of a little village to a bustling port-town. Would I fit in? Would we stand out at all? What if the stuff we were looking for wasn't even there? Once again, to the dismay of my fatigued mind, pessimism and realism were on an alignment course.

"Sage!"

Something yanked on my collar. Back to reality, I nearly stumbled but was caught on the shoulder by Leah's stabilizing paw. The ground right off the side of our path dropped off steeply—down thirty meters at least—and I had just narrowly missed it. I stumbled back a few more steps, now out of fear from what almost was.

Leah bopped me on the forehead, hard.

"What's the matter with you?!" she exclaimed. The timbre in her voice shattered the peaceful air of the cloudless morning. Anger and condemnation were absent from her tone, but there was definitely no shortage of exasperation.

"Shit," I hissed under my breath as I retreated from the cliff. I flashed her an apologetic look and shook my head. "S-Sorry... I need to focus."

She tried to glare, but her eyes matched the delicacy her voice. "Just... If you die on me out here, I swear I'll kill you." Her whole face softened up, although her grip on my yellow collar didn't. "M'kay?"

Aided by the brisk clip my heart was beating at, I forced the pit in my stomach down enough to grin and laugh. "Fair enough, twig-head."

Despite my wobbly legs, I tried to start walking again. Really, this was just me wanting to forget this happened and forget that worry that covered her face. But her iron grip on my collar remained, and so I was forced to face her again.

She eyed me for a moment before finally speaking. "...Sage, I get it. You're not the only one who can't stop thinking about the weight of what we're doing." Finally releasing my collar, she began to pace a bit. "...I can only imagine what they must be thinking—Runaways. Delinquents. I'm—I'm _used_ to this, I'm _used_ to being judged."

She turned to face me again, but this time her eyes had sparked aflame. A small grin of determination materialized on her face and revitalized her trademark shine. "So that's why we've got to put it behind us! We can't go walking off cliffs worrying about the past, nor can we kill ourselves stressing about the future! We just have to take it as it comes!"

I smiled back. I had to.

"I... yeah, you're right. I guess I needed that. Thanks."

Her smile grew bigger. With a feeble, feminine chuckle, she scratched the back of her ear. "R-Really? To be honest, I just said the first thing that came to my head."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed jovially as we began walking side-by-side again. "Of course you did. That's who you are."

* * *

Our spirits rose with the altitude, now nearing a peak as the valley was all but well behind us. For the first time in either of our lives, we had made it out. The mutual despair that eclipsed our morale had, for my partner at least, transitioned to the morning animation that she had all but patented. Even though she wasn't jumping for joy in regard to our escapade, her posture had regained its flare and her eyes had been full of life ever since the sun had peeked over the tops of the crags we had yet to climb.

"Check that out! This cliff is crazy!" she gasped after an uncertain time spent walking, snapping me out of my contemplative trance. I looked to my left and beheld the altitude we had reached.

We paused to admire for well over a minute.

We now stood totally beyond the valley, our view instead occupied by the summits of mountains in the distance. We had never gone nearly this far before, or even really talked about it. This was the crux of the Sheer Mountain Range, overlooking a large section of the natural rocky ascent. Fortunately, it didn't look like we could get much higher than we were in this mostly-unobstructed path that we had chosen, and my tiny burning legs rejoiced at the thought of an easier trek from here on out.

How easy exploring was compared to this. The dungeons themselves were of little concern—but the walk, the preparation, the verticality! It had always been a teasing card among our classmates how conditioned Leah and I were, for spending days fighting ferals and chasing each other down river beds let us run faster and longer than anyone in the village (even Hawlucha!). Pancham pouting when he lost a race to a snake with legs the size of a twig never failed to bring a smile to my face. Now it was nature taking my place and me taking Pancham's. If only there had been a little more time to prepare our bodies for this, if not in the form of development then at least in the form of extensive rest.

We had already traversed several minor dungeons on the way, a couple of them we had already charted before and a couple others dotting the mountainside as fresh territory. It was all beginning to add up. We were both used to lazily resting away the fatigue after a day's worth of exploring in mystery dungeons, and our midnight escape was pouncing on the opportunity to challenge our physical endurance.

We didn't ever rest for longer than an hour simply because I wasn't comfortable with the distance we had put between us and the village. Leah pouted about our haste at first, arguing we could benefit from taking our time, but she soon came to appreciate my precautions when we had stood atop the edge of the valley when the morning sun had just barely peeked over the horizon. Now that we had put forth a bit more distance and the sun was well into the sky, perhaps a rest could be approaching.

"It's been pretty a rough hike thus far, but it looks like it should be a downhill ride from here." Leah didn't miss a beat by audibly assessing the situation.

"Literally," I added.

"Yeah, literally," she giggled.

"Do you want to rest now?" I asked her, willing to conform to her previous prodding. Out here we were awfully vulnerable, with no significant resources fathomably obtainable through means of a simple stroll. Still, it wasn't like things would improve much up here. Now was as good a time as any to rest.

We had been going hard since midnight, with remarkably inadequate sleep to support our one-way expedition. As much as the paranoia of potentially being chased was nipping at my thoughts, it couldn't live up to the thought of one of us over-exerting ourselves and possibly getting hurt or overheated in the process. Maintaining safety was more important than completing our objective. After all, safety _was_ the objective.

Instead of the repressed affirmation that I expected, she shook her head defiantly.

"We may still have quite a ways to go," she responded with a flick of her ears towards the awaiting eastern front. "I'm feeling energized. We can rest when we get off these mountains."

I glanced down the path we would be traveling. It would likely take all day to get through, but that was really just good cause to get moving now. I shrugged and nodded. "Alright."

She was about to continue onward when she halted, and shot me a slightly-worried glance. "...Unless you're tired? If you want, then we can stop."

"Me?" I shook my head. "Nah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" she pressed. "You're sweating, you know. We've never really gone this far before. It would suck if one of us got a heat stroke."

More than anything, the thin layer of sweat that had formed was just a natural reaction to doing any kind of work under this beating sun. I couldn't deny that I was pretty tired, but I felt no reason to stop and rest simply for my own comfort. The only real ailment that I could identify was the ache in my legs that would probably remain for a couple of days due to the extended period of time we had spent hiking uphill. But even this wasn't anything close to chronically bothersome.

"No, I'm good," I reiterated. "As long as you're ready to go, I'm ready to go."

She hesitated a moment before nodding and turning back to our path. After stretching my legs for a moment, I followed suit. That would serve as our break, then.

Based on what I could see, the next part of the journey wouldn't be that difficult along the path we had found, as it would take us from one mountain to another without compromising our altitude too extremely in either direction, saving a lot of time and energy. The idea of actually climbing each mountain all the way up and then descending all the way down was just absurd in light of what we were doing. The way they interconnected naturally was a blessing for our legs, even if it took a bit of maneuvering along mountainsides to reach those points.

Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. By now, most of the wild Pokemon had woken up from their nighttime slumbers and were in quite an unrest to discover two intruders so deplorably disturbing their land. The chain of mountains we were traversing, in some weird conformity of nature, developed into a mystery dungeon that Leah and I had found ourselves in the middle of. It was no big deal; we'd done this before.

I was surprised to find that the Pokemon in this area, however, were not of the usual kind that Leah and I had grown accustomed to seeing every day in the valley. Right away we encountered several fighting and flying types, and also a few other that we weren't used to seeing. Brief memories of the Mandibuzz from a couple of days ago flashed in my mind, and I silently prayed that we wouldn't encounter a ferocious beast like that again. These were mostly new Pokemon we were dealing with, and the various knacks and strategies that worked on solid open ground were rendered largely ineffective when dealing with these unfamiliar species. A biped hauling around a block of wood, a bird drenched in flames, and even a walking manifestation of ice would all try their hands at sending us home, all to no avail.

As we trudged onward it became apparent that the wild Pokemon alone wouldn't be something to really worry about. All of the wild Pokemon that confronted us weren't at their most mature evolution stage. Obviously Leah and I weren't either, but this still allowed us to make relatively easy work of the enemies in our path. It was definitely an unusual feeling exploring this far from where I'd ever been since I'd been dropped into this world, but at least it wasn't too different from the dungeons we had explored.

The one thing that did effectively try to throw our rhythm out of balance, however, was the height. The rocky pass running across one particularly large mountain led us through some precarious cliffs, some even rivaling those that we experienced transiently at that forbidden Revelation Mountain. More than once did one of us stray too close for a hatful of reasons, only to flinch away from the promise of an instantaneous end. In one particularly close call, we were caught fighting three fighting-type enemies at once, and Leah ended up perilously close to one of these several-hundred foot drops. Her hind paw slipped on a loose pebble, and I found myself snatching her flailing form over an unstable edge with one vine while defectively holding off our aggressors with the other. Only Leah's psybeam would be enough to save us both from further disaster, which she somehow maintained the cunning accuracy of in spite of the unfavorable position she was in.

As the day rolled by and more of these situations befell us, I was beginning to realize the authenticity of the adults' warnings. I still had few regrets about my decision to leave, but this still gave me another reason to hang my head for leaving in the fashion I did. I just had to try and convince myself not to think about it. All of the confusion that had amounted within me would constantly be dangling my constitution over a cliff even steeper than the ones that surrounded me.

I just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other. The sound became a rhythm, absolute and eternal.

By the time evening came and the sun was well into its descent, the anxiousness I was having about going to a more populated area was now replaced with nothing but dominating mental and physical exhaustion. The sights were still beautiful along our journey, and Leah and I more than once stopped to see the incredible views as we continually got closer back to sea level.

Trees on the mountains, trees in the valleys—trees were everywhere. The massive valley that Serene Village occupied had plenty of trees too, but the vegetation cooped in the canvas of country before us was breathtakingly fascinating in comparison. This was around the time we took more breaks, if not for our aching legs then to enjoy this journey to the coast while it lasted.

As we got closer to the ground, we began to see plenty of rivers and small bodies of water that we utilized to quench our aching thirst. Eventually the mountain began to thin out at an exponential curve, until we were practically on level ground again. Only at this time did we decide to rest for the rapidly-approaching night.

Hastily traveling through the mountains for what was nearing a full day without significant rest had taken its toll on our group of two, and it held no bars. I managed to find an admissible clearing in the midst of trees and rocks to turn in for the night. There was a small cliff a little ways away through the trees, only about twenty feet tall, overlooking a stream where we could replenish our water supply in the morning. Leah and I spent a good forty-five minutes establishing a suitable camp, exhausting the last of the energy we could've hoped to utilize in a single stretch.

In an idle-minded state, we devoured a few of the fruits and berries we had collected on the way, and simultaneously collapsed onto the roughly-strewn beds thrown together on the rough ground. We didn't even bother to light a fire, or set up some kind of guard duty. It wasn't worth the effort at that point.

We laid a few feet apart, each of us now welcoming the exhaustion as our minds shut down and our bodies relaxed. Conversation might've been warranted on any other day, but a million words went unspoken already.

We had made it out.

The presence of sleep, which in recent days had often been fickle, overtook the both of us in an instant.

* * *

The sensation of a light breeze ticking my toes was the introduction to a weary awakening. The backs of my eyelids hesitated to reveal what I assumed would be morning light and promptly shot open when they were instead met with consentient darkness. In the depths of my hazy mind I wondered what could have woken me at such an early time, negating the dreamless sleep I had just been so deeply imbedded in.

After a moment of mental collection, I was at least awake enough to judge the time: still a few hours before the journey to Lively Town could be recommenced. I glanced over in Leah's direction, briefly worried that my previous paranoia had been accurate all along and we had somehow been found by a search party from the village.

The empty bed that barely met my tired eyes in the vacuum of night sent a chill down my spine. I shot up into a sitting position, vines tingling and ready to strike at any threatening figures in the darkness. Perhaps she was up and about because—

To my immense relief and slight puzzlement, there were no immediate threats in the camp that I could pinpoint.

I carefully rolled over to Leah's bed and inspected it further, noting the calm position of the leaves and the ambient heat that enveloped the surface. She had not been in any sort of struggle getting up, and judging by the temperature, she hadn't been gone for too long either. But if that was the case, then where was she, and what was she doing up at such an hour?

The aching in my tired muscles begged me to forget about it and just dip back into deep sleep. I knew I would definitely need rest for tomorrow, which was sure to be filled with plenty more walking. My limbs held no control over the curiosity tugging at my conscience, however, and I found myself using them to lift myself off the ground and into a standing position, taking a moment to allow the blood to rush to my legs.

I wasn't really sure where she could have gone considering how little we had scouted the area the evening prior. We were in the middle of the woods next to the mountain we had crossed at the end of yesterday. The one trait of this area that I could clearly recall was the nearby stream overlooked by a tiny cliff, which I knew would prove useful when we needed to sustain our water supply. Deducing that that's where a restless Fennekin must've gone, presumably for that very reason, I headed in that direction with the intention of putting my worries to sleep.

I slithered through the silent night. Passing an incline of trees and empty creeks along the way, I progressed to the top of the overhang in half a dozen minutes with little difficulty. Now that I was close up, I could get a better firsthand view of the location than I briefly jotted down in my tired memory the evening before. Through some of the brambles I could see a familiar bundle of orange and yellow sitting peacefully on the edge. Good. She was alright.

The same breeze that woke me was still operating at a rhythmic constant, gently drifting her fur to the right every so often. I positioned myself with the intention of casually making my presence known, when the distinct sound of tuned vocals made me halt in place.

Carried by the wind was a soft tune that originated from the only source possible. I sat there, still mostly hidden by the bushes blending in with my green body, taking a moment to be captivated by what I was hearing. The voice was so familiar, and yet adopted a deeper sense of divinity and acuity.

 _Leah can sing?_

The breeze delivered the song Leah sang to me unhindered, and I could distinguish every detail and emotion. There were no words to be found in the smooth transition through the verses, or if there were, they didn't reach me. Rather, the melody spoke in a different language, one of relation and depth, one of the heart and soul. She was actually pretty good!

This was no tune casually hummed in the midst of a boring math class, or an insignificant melody strung together in the ambience of an idle mind. This was a confession of one's feelings, obviously directed at the night sky and not anyone in particular. For a moment, I actually felt bad that I was here listening to my partner express her emotions through music in such a personal fashion, feeling as though I was needlessly intruding on a sacred ritual.

Perhaps what touched me was the silver outline of the tune: the loneliness that I related all-too-well with. The sorrow that came with it was there, and I was willingly forced to reevaluate my dear partner's decisions and experiences to the brink of my own limited knowledge. The wordless melody told stories of an outcast; a girl cast down for her tales of riding with the clouds and conquering the world. Small town. Bigger dreams. Struck down.

I didn't even notice my own arm fiddling with my scarf until my mind had already initiated this cynical shift. Had I really been so closed-minded? Suddenly, right there in that bush, I found myself with more self-loathing than I had conjured ever since that first big argument with her. I hated to admit it, but a part of me had her company as nothing more than reassurance for my own goals, telling myself that it was alright as long as she got to Lively Town and lived out her own dream. While this thought process had no moral fault on the surface, it was the general mentality of the whole thing that jabbed me in the side and made my heart ache with every musical note.

Consideration... selflessness... the fundamental keys to social relations. I had never really put myself in Leah's shoes and considered her enough with all of this drama, had I? Here she was, riding on the coattails of my agenda, taking breaks only when I saw fit as she left her life behind. Pledging to go with me for my sake more than anything, not as a personal obligation of friendship, but rather as a mutual understanding that I tossed aside as a positive rather than something to _consider_. Was that where this loneliness was coming from? My own selfishness?

Was I going crazy?

I shook my head. I was probably just overthinking all of this. Leah had me, and I had her, and we had pledged on the hill stick these challenges out together. We were a team, and our goals were one entity and were always destined to align that way from the moment we formed Team Prism.

She didn't notice me at first when I approached her. Her posture was pristine: sitting up straight, eyes closed, nose in the air, tail slightly curled to her right.

"Couldn't sleep?"

She jumped in place, her form gathering itself somewhat clumsily in a natural response to my unwarranted greeting. A couple syllables of my own chucking followed, and she whipped her head around and quietly huffed at me, a tiny puff of smoke rising to the air from what I'm sure would've been a nasty flamethrower if she had decided I was a feral.

Even as she scowled, the relief on her face was undeniable. "Don't sneak up on me like that, leaf-head! For a moment I thought you were a wild Pokemon."

"Sorry, sorry," I muttered. "I just... yeah. Couldn't sleep either."

She nodded off to the side, humming in understanding, and then looked back up at the stars. We sat there for a good while, taking in the world. The clouds, the moon, all leaving plenty of room for contemplation.

"Do you ever..." she began. "...ever wonder what you'll do when you find out what happened to you?"

I raised my eyebrows at the question, and lowered my head slightly when I evaluated what my instinctive answer would've been. Going back to where I "belonged" was such an odd concept to an amnesiac in a foreign land that I had never really given it much thought. There were no grounds to even think them on.

It seemed simple enough: I was a human, who belonged with other humans. Or at least, I assumed as much... for all I knew, I had already lived in a Pokemon-dominated world such as this one. Did it even work that way? But then again, that would be ridiculous. From what I'd learned, humans hadn't been documented to have walked this world in so long that they were now considered mythological, susceptible to have their very existence stand as the subject of controversial debate.

So with that in mind, where did I belong? Where was a place that I could truly call home? Not in the familiar sense of Serene Village, but in a sense of true belonging in every aspect of oneself? A place where my old self would remember, not the Snivy that I was now.

What would happen if I went back?

Did I even _want_ to go back?

Was there even anything to go back to?

And what would something like that do to me and Leah's bond of companionship?

Well, the answer to the last one was pretty obvious... It would disintegrate it on a hopeless scale, and scatter its ashes to the wind.

What of Espurr, and Nuzleaf, and—

I frowned. I already had abandoned them, hadn't I? The fact that I had done so with nothing to justify it besides an over-the-top declaration of nobility scared me now more than it did even as I was planning the escape. How would me and Leah be much different? What if it all came down to that choice: go "home", wherever that was, or stay with the only one I could currently lean on and trust with what little memories I had? Neither decision would leave me at peace, I felt.

"Don't know, huh?" Leah answered for me upon my lack of a vocal response. Oh, if only she could hear the cacophony stampeding through my thoughts right now. "That's alright," she continued. "I don't really blame you. I bet that's not an easy topic to think about when you don't even know who you were or where you were from. But... whatever you choose, I'll support you."

Her words stabbed me in the same way that tune she was humming to herself had. She understood so well, and yet had no idea just how much I was considering the concept of leaving her too if given the chance for everything to go back to normal. Would this ever change? What did this world really mean to me? Too many questions. Too little answers. Same old problems. And hanging in the middle of it all was my own selfishness, taunting me, and I felt helpless. It made me tense up at the sheer amount of distress it unearthed within me. Being torn in two wasn't the greatest feeling no matter the context.

"Leah?" I managed to say.

"Yeah, Sage?"

"Do you trust me?"

She looked at me funny. Even in the dim light, I could vaguely make out the features of a thoughtful contortion.

She didn't hesitate. "Of course."

I locked eyes with her and nodded. "Then you don't have to worry about what happens then."

She held her expression for a moment longer before smiling. She sighed in what I assumed was contentment, and rested her head on my shoulder. The act surprised me at first, in part because of the initial awkwardness of the fit (and also because of how soft her ears were) but I relaxed almost immediately as sentiment took over. We sat there in perfect serenity and continued to watch the stars without another word. Sleep must have beckoned us at some point, but that memory too would be gone with the wind.


	19. Tunnel Vision

Chapter 19 - Tunnel Vision

According to the Society Gadget's uncouth Global Positioning System, there was a sizeable portion of the range that we had yet to traverse that would surely warrant another half-day's worth of walking. While it was all on an incline, which definitely trumped the climbing we had been doing before, it was still demoralizing to think that we would only be walking more after the near-intolerable digression of a day and night past. When the morning sun pried my eyelids open, I was in no mood to acknowledge it with the rest of my body.

Standing patiently on the hill that had claimed our sleeping location following a night of introspective stargazing, I was able to utilize the small increase in altitude and get a decent enough signal. It took a fraction of the time it would take to load way back at Serene Village, in all likelihood a perk of being closer to where the device was manufactured and designed. It was a promising sign, one that we were getting closer. With such a revolutionary change in stimuli that I had yet to face, at least common conveniences such as this wouldn't be a problem where we were headed.

A fatigued grunt sounded off behind me, followed by rustling leaves. Leah's fogged eyes met mine as I glanced back at her partially-risen form, and she rubbed them and yawned a couple of times to adjust to the waking influence of late-morning.

"Mornin' Smugleaf," she greeted with a pop of her jaw and a brief glance at our surroundings. "What time is it?"

"Mornin' bed head. It's about an hour before noon."

She scoffed at my nickname, beginning to roll her eyes when they suddenly went wide. "It's almost noon!?"

I motioned my nose toward the sky above, and her face maintained its shocked gesture as she validated the time of day.

"Wow," she continued. "Pops would never let me sleep this late..." She trailed off, and an awkward silence conquered the pristine air. Her ears drooped half an inch, and she turned her head slightly to the side and sighed. "Oh, I mean—yeah... sorry. Gotta stay focused."

"Nothing to apologize for," I answered in an attempt to get our thought processes back on track. "This is our first night away from Serene Village. It's only natural we'd be thinking about everyone when we wake up."

The Fennekin mumbled something incoherent to herself, looking down for a moment. It didn't seem to bother her for long, though—another good sign of progression—and she shrugged it off and padded over to me.

I showed her the map I had just been investigating, and together we charted our path for the day. We would be taken through a cave that began not too far from our current position overlooking the river, and hopefully end up within sight of Lively Town. There was apparently some sort of highway being built that would cut from coast to coast of the Water Continent, but it wasn't finished yet and Leah and I didn't want to travel anywhere near a populated trail anyway. Something like that might prove to be useful later on, but certainly not now.

Satisfied with the gadget's assistance, I held it down and lackadaisically tossed it back into the bag where it settled on top of the various foodstuffs and trinkets stuffed inside. I picked the bag up and slung it around my shoulder before letting out a sizable yawn of my own—an instrument of the twenty-ish hours spent mobile the previous day. I didn't pay the exhaustion hardly any mind; all of that work had been worth the precious miles gained. It was easier now to relax away the tension that had been building in my strained nerves now that the distance between us and the village was so spacious. Yesterday had been quite the journey, even featuring a few brushes with an untimely demise at the hands of gravity, but today it would all come to fruition. It was a downhill ride from here.

I momentarily wondered if it was truly the right play to derail our focus from the long run as much as we had to this point, considering that we were bound to run into someone we knew eventually. Vast urges to procrastinate the thought filled my mind as soon as it entered my head, but I knew it was one I had to come to terms with ideally before too much time had passed. It might take a few months, but someone like Nuzleaf who traveled often could track us down as long as we stayed put in Lively Town. For a moment, I cursed the geography of the world, for the home of the Expedition Society and the epicenter of an extraterrestrial anomaly happened to be only one mountain range apart.

We had left on a pressing impulse of imminent danger and instant adventure. This relaxing feeling I felt didn't seem like it belonged with the knowledge that I had shoved aside my human-related problems, all while creating new ones for myself and my partner. After considering it for a moment, I just decided that I was too tired and too resolved to let it bother me now in the middle of the wilderness. I instead allowed myself to crave the moment when I could finally sit down and just comprehend reality for five seconds without the risk of it crumbling at my feet. No distractions embedded underneath scales, no endangerment to what I had come to hold dear, no need to look over my shoulder as often. Presuming the first opportunity for this kind of peace would be exactly where Leah and I were headed, I notched it up to a motivational goal.

The little moment of bonding the night before was now forgotten with the energy of an important morning. Feeling better about our situation, Leah and I headed back through the forest while chatting about unimportant topics, taking in some more of yesterday's sights and just enjoying the lively environment. Nestled in the heart of several mountains was a crisp forest that filtered sunlight through the parting canopy and creating a spotlight effect—an observation impossible previously due to a late evening arrival. The incline the map had promised we were on was of no major concern to my feet against the leaves still damp from morning residue, the walk through the forest as level-footed as our resolve. A flock of birds coursed overhead and squawked in unison with our footsteps.

As the two of us neared the campsite, I cursed myself for my own irresponsibility. How could I have left our belongings here, unguarded, until noon?

Oh well, it didn't matter now; everything was here, and I gathered it up soundly into the treasure bag. With luggage in tow and a mutual nod with my Fennekin companion, it was time to finally see this journey through.

Gentle Slope Cave wasn't too far from where we had stopped for the night, so it only ended up taking us about half an hour to reach it. It should've taken only fifteen minutes, but Leah and I started bickering about how much food it would take to fill up a Snorlax, and we ended up missing the cave's mouth entirely. It was a laughable misstep, but at least helped to exemplify the carefree atmosphere that had replaced the hammering stress of the past week. Inquisitions of being chased down were all but nullified at this point.

The path through the cave was relatively uneventful at first, the dungeon mostly having Pokemon that one of us held an advantage over. Even while dueling some pesky foes on the slightly inclined surface, one they were likely accustomed to fighting on, they could not properly become accustomed to third degree burns and heavy lacerations.

Then things got a bit out of hand. Leah, in some burst of impatience and excitement that had been bubbling up for a day now, decided to throw away all regard for her own well-being and rush ahead of me in trademark fashion. It had worked a few times before in the past while in easier dungeons where I'd rush to arrive in a room where all of the hostiles had already been cleared in a storm of fire. She would be standing by the stairs, chewing on a twig and smirking at me when I would try unsuccessfully to scold her for her rash behavior. She typically would do this kind of thing whenever she got excited on a mission, and the impetuous strategy would often yield varying results. In short, I would either end up getting called a "big Slowpoke", or I would end up having to save her from some scary enemy that caught her off guard.

On this particular occasion, it was an Onix that stole the honors.

We were a few floors into it, when she sniffed the air for no particular reason and was bounding ahead of me just like that. I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, thinking little of it and continuing my steadfast trot. I was taking another bite out of an apple I'd found when I heard a familiar scream ahead of me, jolting me to attention.

"What the- Leah!" I called out down the hallway.

Not a moment later she emerged from around the corner, running as fast as she could at me with a terror-stricken look on her face.

"Big snake! _Really_ big snake!"

"What?"

Then I heard the rumbling, and easily the largest Pokemon I'd ever seen appeared after her. Its serpentine body was constructed entirely of jagged boulders, but that didn't seem to hinder its speed at all as it covered the distance between us with little resistance. My lithe form was merely a green speck compared to the organic string of rocks approaching.

Wide eyed, I chucked the half-eaten apple at its head. Its approach (obviously) didn't falter in the slightest, and I gasped as the distance between us was cut considerably shorter in mere seconds. With wits harsly surmounted, I followed up with a much more effective leaf tornado, intending to take advantage of the type matchup and knock it out right away before it could barrel over me. The Onix quickly burrowed underground to avoid it, and the leaves uselessly cut through the air that it had just occupied. It was a tactic that I had not anticipated a creature so large would be realistically capable of, and a moment of perplexed hesitation on my part turned into encompassing pain when it reemerged directly below me and struck upward with its pointed head.

I was weightless for a moment as I desperately tried to stabilize my fall, before the sensation met a jolting end upon impact with the ground a moment sooner than I'd have liked. I landed awkwardly on my leg, sending a disorienting wave of pain through my lower body.

In my short time as a Pokemon, I had learned to utilize my nimble frame in brief midair falls and stabilize myself to a reasonable degree. It was one of the perks of becoming a Snivy: even though my limbs weren't blessed with length, I still could take advantage of my slim body-style and flexible spine to rival the athleticism of a feline. It had definitely paid off more than once in this world of naturally-aggressive organisms.

This time, unfortunately, did not go as smoothly. I was horribly discombobulated due to the surprise vertical strafe of such a large opponent, and I couldn't quite land on my feet right. I was too late, and my leg bent at an awkward angle with the force of gravity packed behind it.

Situations like this had happened countless times before in the dungeons around Serene Village. Leah or I would go down hard, and the other would simply cover for them while they collected themselves and rejoined the fight. It wasn't a very complicated strategy, and it always went unspoken. Tough Pokemon in dungeons did exist, rarely some even sentient beings capable of their own strategies, and it was to be expected that one of us might become momentarily impaired for any reason at any time.

The idea that this would be one of these routine confrontations was instantly relinquished when I tried to no avail to get back on my feet. My ankle, my right one, was something along the lines of sprained or twisted. It hurt like hell to attempt to put weight on it, not that I weighed that much to begin with. Even trying to move it excessively would painfully zap my tiny leg and entice me to stop. I grunted in pain as I tried to right myself again, and I quickly looked up to see what the current predicament had become.

The Onix was staring at me with bad intentions in mind, beginning with its tail the dreaded motion of a rock throw attack.

On a dime, Leah managed to shed her panicked state and take full advantage of the beast's occupation. A luminous orb was her weapon of choice, which she lobbed right at its eyes after shooting a fireball directed at the same target. The fire engulfed the Onix's head, doing little damage. Regardless, it did its job by getting the rock snake to turn and look right into the exploding white light of the orb. It let out a deafening screech that reverberated throughout the surrounding chambers, and burrowed underground in retreat. It probably wouldn't be able to see straight for a day or two, but that was fine by me as long as it left us alone. I wouldn't be shedding any tears for the bastard.

I didn't know how she did it. Once again, Leah knew exactly what to do in a shifty situation. She was always a little careless and sometimes even a bit clumsy depending on the circumstances, but to hell if she couldn't silence any doubters when things were happening quickly. If only the likes of Pancham and the other classmates could see this! I couldn't help but appreciate the keen accuracy that she had been consistently displaying ever since Gabite's cave, and that apparently applied to throwing items as well. It made me grateful that she had decided to spare me during that one scuffle in the school forest when I was occupied with Shelmet and she had an open shot. She probably wouldn't have missed.

"Holy Miltank, that was close!" Leah gasped, still staring at the hole in the ground and making no effort to relish in her timely victory. "What was that thing?"

"A-An Onix, I think. Remember that one lesson we had about rock-types?" I rasped, doing what I could to keep the pain out of my voice. I guess I didn't do a very good job, because my partner recognized instantly that I wasn't unscathed and hastily jogged over to see if I was alright.

"Must've been home sick that day—hey, are you okay?" she questioned with a voice riddled with concern. I pointed at my foot, which was already beginning to swell up, and she sighed in what sounded like self-contempt. "That looks like it might need medical attention." She looked at me somberly, an overcoat of regret dominating her expression. "I'm sorry Sage, I shouldn't have rushed ahead like you said."

"It's just a twisted ankle or something. Bad fall, that's all," I shrugged her off while gingerly rubbing it. "I'm pretty sure I can still walk. And no need to be sorry. Your hastiness usually pays off."

Leah extended a paw down to me, which I took and pulled on to right myself up. I stumbled at first and had to lean on her shoulder for leverage, but I was able to find my balance without too much trouble.

"You sure you don't need help?" Leah continued to prod as she helped me stand. By the way her ears angled downward, I could that she was rather upset, almost to the point where you'd think she had been the one to get hurt. I mentally kicked myself for failing to downplay such a trivial injury. The last thing we needed was for the both of us on this journey to be plagued with guilt over something invariable.

I rubbed my tender foot again and shook my head, smiling in reassurance and ignoring the sharp spike of pain that embodied the bite-sized limb whenever it met with the ground to trade forces. It truly wasn't that bad anyway. Little injuries like this would happen here and there when exploring; it was an inevitability that came with the profession in question. In minor cases where there were no broken bones involved (something we admittedly had to deal with on a couple of occasions, much to nurse Audino's fright), it usually took was some ice and a little nurturing to get over such obstacles. The leg would probably swell a little more, but that wasn't a pressing concern as long as we got to Lively Town. The real issue here was the timing of the injury.

However, there were no longer valley walls to hold us in, and the two of us couldn't just rush back to Nurse Audino for help if one of us broke a leg or cut ourselves open to a fatal degree. It was a reality check that jarred me more than the meager pain in my foot could. It really was just us out here on our own.

In light of the stakes, the rocky obstacle was now in the past and not to be dwelled on further. We continued through the dank cave, albeit at a slightly belated pace to account for the benign limp I was forced to adopt. For obvious reasons, the Fennekin at my side made no more hasty decisions and instead resolved to stick with me for the whole ride through. Thankfully it got a little more straightforward after awhile since I could still fight and Leah still provided an excellent ranged offense. No more beasts like that Onix, which Leah sheepishly admitted had been fast asleep before she barged into its domain, made any appearances as we continued to walk along the corridors. At this unhurried pace I found myself not needing to do much of anything as long as my partner had the ability to furnace anything within thirty feet.

As if I hadn't already had a day's worth of hiking to expound upon my thoughts, I was left again with little activity at my disposal beyond the inner fray that was only now receding from its initial magnitude.

If I was going to move on from what lay trapped in the past, it wouldn't be quartering to keep reminiscing about it like I had been. That only left the tunnel of the future to ponder, which unfortunately wasn't much of an upgrade. Owe it to the fact that there was hardly anything to even ponder at all, with all of the uncertainty that circled around what could transpire in the coming hours. Then came the future priorities of a broader nature: finding out who I was and why I was here. They'd hit the same mental brick wall that I couldn't pray to find a way around anytime soon. They would cycle in my head over and over: Why am I here? ...Where even is here? ...Why am I here? ... _Why am I here?_

Who _am_ I?

I shook my head, narrowly whisking a passing stalactite with my nose in the process. Of all the inner tempests to spiral into, this would not be the one. Not here. Not now.

That left only the short-term goals to think about, those that commanded more priority but ultimately added less to the bigger picture. The big one at that moment was as simple as making it to Lively Town and meeting this Exploration Society that we've apparently been working for for several months now.

Meeting up with that weird Ampharos fellow would be another thing I'd eventually need to do, if nothing else than to thank him for the materials he'd given us. With the not-so-subtle hint he had dropped about his identity, however, I got the feeling that those two goals would conveniently align themselves. If so, that only made things easier.

And then there was that library that he had mentioned. I wasn't a huge bookworm or anything, but I didn't mind a little studying if it meant learning about something I could put to use in this mysterious world. I didn't have the blessing of developing in a family where many lifestyle commodities would be adopted as second nature, and thus I really was a foreigner in ways beyond the soul even if my biology detested the thought. Nuzleaf had been kind enough to educate me on the simple stuff that I needed to know, from everyday anatomy to basic ways to not get myself killed. But I had still relied heavily on the admittedly-lackluster education provided by the village school, despite a few instances of the topic applied being rather irrelevant (storytime, for example). If this library was as useful as that electric klutz claimed, then I might be able to find out more about my human origin, and perhaps even find a way to prove it to others. There was also that weird ability of mine that nobody could seem to explain; perhaps I could study that too. Maybe even learn how to use it to my advantage, if possible?

Okay, so perhaps the future wasn't looking as bleak as I had initially thought. There wasn't much for Team Prism to lean on besides one another, and a lack of assets at our disposal might cause some issues if Leah answer I didn't figure that out within the waning daylight... but at least we had a fixed direction. At least that was our constant, besides, of course, having one another. Having a place in front of us was infinitely better than only having a place to run from.

It occurred to me how much of the future in question depended on this Expedition Society that I still hardly knew anything about. Leah had done her homework and studied up on it (and she had never been anything along the lines of a bookworm herself), but apparently the village wasn't too keen on educating its pupils on these kinds of modernized establishments. I got that kind of anti-progression vibe from some of the villagers sometimes when they'd raise their eyebrows or frown whenever they saw one of us tinkering with our gadget. Leah and I were essentially left in the dark about the place we were traveling to right now due to the valley's iron grip, and it allowed an air of uncertainty to intensify as we got closer to our anticipated goal.

I also gravely realized that a major problem we might have is actually getting in. I still had no idea how any of the work Team Prism had done actually played into our reputation, or if we even had a reputation all the way over here. I went ahead and guessed that we didn't, considering we had never accepted any jobs outside of the perceptively small area within the valley we were now moving away from. With this in mind, did the Expedition Society even know who we were? Did every mission completed actually send them a notification, or did it instead require some kind of physical link with the connection orb to that "Atlas" thing once mentioned?

If they truly didn't know who we were, and Leah's description of a "no kids" rule was accurate, then there would be a blatant issue with just walking up and introducing ourselves as candidates for members. I didn't doubt our abilities to keep up and contribute, but would they? All I'd ever heard of the society was about how prestigious it was, mostly all from Leah when she'd get all starry-eyed and inspired by just talking about it for five seconds. Where did that leave our chances? A limping Snivy and a head-over-heels Fennekin strolling up to whatever business headquarters or strondhold that the Society called home about summed up how our plan would go. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how we'd be lucky to even be given a chance to prove ourselves, much less get let in right away. Rejection was a very real and imminent concern.

Alas, it helped little stressing over it this much. Every decision we'd made thus far has essentially been on a whim anyway, so if we did end up hitting that roadblock, I'd just find another path for us.

Still, the future wasn't very appealing to think about when it hung by such a variable thread.

But this only sparked yet another worry, one that was even more tangible than the concept of having to switch lanes from joining the Society. It specifically involved the fate of the Fennekin who was currently positioned loyally at my flank. What of her, in the case that we were rejected at the door? Would she even still travel with me?

I glanced over at her momentarily. Leah's eyes were alert and scanning the hallway for any enemies. Right now she was nothing like the sporadic excitement and laxation that we shared before the encounter with that Onix. I tried to take reassurance in how selfless she had proven to be during the time I'd known her, which then only worried me more when I thought about how much I failed to return such generosity. Was it not my amazement at her pyrotechnic prowess that was molded by how many times she saved my tail with it? Gabite's cave, Nectar Meadows, Revelation Mountain; I could go on and on.

And then there was the little escapade she was following me on. Even if it made a lot of sense for her to accompany me, how much did she hang on the line just for my sake? Serene Village, while a stark contrast to her dreams of valor and accomplishment, provided more than enough essentiality to make just about anyone comfortable. Leah sacrificed that in a heartbeat to tag along with an amnesiac Snivy that was running from three mysterious Beeheyem that up to this point she had never even seen before. She had known me for what, two months or something like that? I didn't even think I had thanked her for it. If this didn't work out, how stable would our covenant remain once she recognized I would still refuse to turn back after everything that has happened?

Was leaving in the first place really even the right call? Should I have just listened to everyone instead of turning my back and running off into the night?

I physically shook my head, just faintly enough not to divert her attention.

There I was, thinking about the past again and getting all depressed about something that was now null and void. I almost found it funny how the future and the past, two opposite rays of a grand spectrum, could loop themselves together with a single strand of passing thoughts. One was already out of the way, the other was speeding right at your unprepared face, and both could be equally demoralizing in their own cruel ways.

Perhaps it was best right now for me to just not think at all, and instead focus on the most fundamental task at hand: getting through the current dungeon. I just had to go one step at a time and keep it simple so I don't break down like I did a couple days ago in front of a flustered Espurr—

 _—Damn it all._

Perhaps Arceus was smiling on me this day, because the exit to the cave was in sight before I could allow my depleted mind to grate against my skull any further. My attention was stolen from myself when I heard a gasp to my side.

"Look!" Leah exclaimed as the light ahead grew brighter with every step, nullifying the influence of the torch I had been using to see better once the luminous orb from before had worn off. "It should be just out there! Come on!"

Back to her permissive self, Leah ecstatically ran ahead of me towards the exit. All negative thoughts erased, I grinned and followed her as quickly as my awkward leg would allow.

"Hey, wait up!" I called out ahead, my own excitement failing to hide itself from the tone of my voice. If the map this morning was correct, we would be directly at the town's doorstep and able to witness what we had each given up everything for just outside here.

And witness it we did.

I jogged out of the cave's wide mouth to find my partner standing on the edge of a steep drop-off. She was as still as a stone, gazing down at something. I moved myself beside her and placed my eyes at a parallel angle, and every fiber of my being cried out in joy at the sight.

"Check that out," I whispered, reminiscent of the same thing I had said upon first looking down from the hill with the tree. From the elevated position we stood, the entirety of what could only be called Lively Town stretched out before us like a gift. The water's edge met the town's developing port, which conformed to the wavy curvature of the Water Continent's western coast. The town itself claimed the entire crest of a cape that allowed the mass of saltwater to border two of its exposed sides. Between civilization and ocean was a beach, where even from here I could make out the shapes of numerous Pokemon enjoying a nice summer afternoon.

"That's it, isn't it?" Leah breathed, as awed by the sight as I was. "Wow... that's—that's Lively Town."

It was a wonderfully satisfying sight. The more I stared at it, everything about it captivated me more and more. The only civilization either of us had ever known was Serene Village, which easily paled in comparison to what we were staring at in the distance. The powerhouse of society in front of us looked like it could gobble that little village up tenfold and still have enough commodity left to sustain royalty.

Perhaps that was stretching it a bit, but exaggeration was to be expected in this state of amazement. I'd never seen nearly this many Pokemon in one place before and not be all terrestrial like the ones in the dungeons. The grand observation had totally overwhelmed me, totally caught me off guard.

I could only imagine what it would be like once we actually got down there. And I could also only imagine what Leah was thinking too, considering she had seen about as much as I had of this world. Was it all what she expected? Was her dream of flying like the clouds really staring back at us from atop this stretch?

There was only one way to find out. It simply wouldn't suffice to stand up here any longer.

It had been Leah's idea to come here in the first place, and yet I was the one to break the silent trance. "What are we waiting for?" I marveled, beginning towards the path leading down. "Let's go!"

"Right!" she responded with eyes sparkling and legs bounding.

The walk down to the settlement took a good half-hour, part of it being the lapse of shifting altitude. I suppose that we hadn't really been as close to sea level as I had thought, seeing that a few outliers of the Sheer Mountain Range had planted themselves right here by the sea. One of which, of course, had served host to the cave that took up today's worth of traveling. But I couldn't complain, given all the views and awesome forces of nature that we had seen firsthand all along the way. As I glanced back the way we came once we got a bit farther down, I marveled at the landscaping that was now receding from my view the further away I got. Mountains on one front, ocean on the other. Not a bad location if you asked me.

Concluding our forty-hour journey was a gate highlighting a beautifully carved bridge. It passed over a creek that bordered the edge of the town and streamed into the ocean. I looked down both directions and saw all sorts of contraptions that resembled water wheels that turned with the current and distributed the energy elsewhere.

As Leah and I neared the bridge, I noticed the expansion that Lively Town was currently undergoing, as I could see a few houses and buildings being constructed outside of the river's border. The buildings were nothing like the wooden and thatch huts in Serene Village, these constructed meticulously with mostly stone and what I thought looked like polished quartz. Shiny coats of paint distributing a myriad of contrasting colors gave them a variety that sang like a visible euphony. All sorts of sizes and shapes and advertisements helped add to the independence of each one.

What caught my attention most, though, was the sheer number of Pokemon, which was a defined harmony that gave the shiny buildings life. Some were wearing expensive-looking hats and scarves, and I saw a few even wearing what looked like shoes. None of it really appealed to me, and although none of it was really over-the-top, I could still imagine the laughs one would get from the kids in Serene Village by publicly playing dress-up.

 _Ugh..._ I shook me head. _Enough of that._ _Eyes forward._

"Wow, it's so..." Leah didn't finish her comment as she took in more of the sights and sounds and smells.

"...Lively." I finished for her after a few lingering seconds, determining that I would simply ignore any more mental slip ups. The analysis wasn't very descriptive of me, but it was the best way anyone could put it in a single word. Whoever named this town, if still alive, probably chuckled to themselves every time they witnessed it running at full throttle in the busy late-afternoon.

"No kidding!" Leah laughed. But even with the softness of that laugh I could still hear an ambience of fatigue, and I suddenly became intensely aware of my own. It had been a long two days, and we needed to run our errands now in the remaining hours we had left before dark. Gentle Slope Cave, while not being too large, was still a formidable dungeon, and those usually took up most of the day to conquer as it was. Considering we started as late as we did this morning, it was no surprise to see the sun moving closer and closer to the liquid horizon, soon to be swallowed whole by the ocean. The clock wasn't really working in our favor, as we would be in a pretty bad spot if we didn't get provided a place to stay by the Society. It was a very real possibility that they didn't even provide places to stay at all, even for their own members, and then we'd have to find a last-minute hotel and spend a good amount of the money that we brought even if we did get accepted. Simply getting this far wasn't the whole gambit; we still had so much to do. There would be no rest for the weary- not yet at least.

"So, what should we do first?" Leah asked, stealing the question from the tip of my tongue. "I kinda want to see the Expedition Society's headquarters as soon as possible, but we can take care of anything else you need before then."

I glanced toward the center of the town and shook my head. "No, I'm on board with going to the Society now. We need to get ourselves established somewhere while we still have time, and that's gonna be the ideal place to do so."

Leah's eyes lit up with excitement upon hearing my approval. "Alright!" she cheered. "Then—uh, where do we go?"

Unsure myself, I shrugged in response. Leah didn't waste a moment asking the nearest passerby Pokemon for information. She approached a Snubbull wearing a ridiculous green hat with a feather sticking out the top, who had just crossed the bridge and was heading away from Lively Town.

"Excuse me, miss?" Leah said sweetly. "Could y—"

"What a rude child!" the Snubbull cut in sharply. "I am obviously not a 'miss'! I sexually identify as an agendered pansexual! Watch your tongue or I'll be seeing you in court!"

Leah's mouth clamped shut. The fir along her cheeks twitched—of course, she was trying not to collapse into hysterical laughter at whatever otherworldly response that was meant to be. Even standing a few feet back, I was finding it just as hard not to laugh as well.

The Fennekin blinked a few times and collected her voice, before asking the intended question. "Sorry about that... Uh, I just wanted to know if you could direct us to the Expedition Society."

"North of the square," we barely heard 'her' grumble before hobbling off down the road.

Leah walked over to me, and we both shared a glance. We muffled our laughs as best we could as we crossed the bridge and entered Lively Town for the first time.

"I'm just gonna pretend I didn't hear that," I told her. Biting her lip and giggling a few more times, Leah briskly nodded her head in concurrence.

The town square was even more incredible than just the outskirts we had seen. From there, nearly everything was visible, with the exception of a few back alleys and streets. The cafe and a pallet of shops were built around the circle in a fashion eerily similar to that of Serene Village's center. But this place was bustling with much more activity, loud noises and other stimuli filling the entire area. From the cafe and a few outlying bistros wafted soul-melting smells that invited us to stay for awhile. Shops for all sorts of things littered the area, most of them progressing beyond basic necessities and instead providing services for convenience alone. I did see a Kecleon shop that looked almost exactly like the one back in the village, so at least that was still a constant.

We skirted along the edge to avoid some of the townsfolk, and were nearly out the north end of the square when I saw something playing out that made me halt in place. Over behind one of the buildings was a black and brown crocodile-looking Pokemon looming over a much smaller Treecko. I tapped on Leah's shoulder with a vine and motioned for her to watch and listen.

"Hey, you're just a kid, huh?" the larger Pokemon questioned the child.

"No!" the little guy answered. "My mom says I'm a big boy!"

The crocodile-looking Pokemon ignored him entirely. "Yeah," he mumbled mainly to himself. "This is exactly what I need. Listen here, you got any bread on you?"

"Bread?" the Treecko answered uncertainly. "Why would you want that? Are you hungry?"

"What? Nah, nah," the ground-type said with an exasperated wave of his arms. "Y'know... Dough. Paper. Cash. Legal friggin' exchange, you feel me? I need some of that, pronto."

"Yeah!" the child answered cheerfully, much too young to pick up on the escalating situation. He pulled out some change and held it to the open air casually. "I have some! But I can't give it to you. It belongs to my mommy."

"Yeah, not anymore," the mugger snickered. "I'll be taking that, and you better not utter a peep in protest." He outstretched his hand, forming it into a shadow claw with unthinkable intentions.

Instinct from weeks of saving lost Pokemon from testy situations took over right around that point. You'd have thought me and Leah were fighting for the last muffin on her Pops' famous platter by the way we sprung to action. That big-snout jerk didn't know he was being flanked until his entire head was engulfed in a crackling flame, and by the time he realized what was going on and cried out in disoriented pain, my two vines were already going to work on his legs. I was a bit slow on the jump with the limp and all, but the bastard was so caught off guard that he just ended up tripping over himself anyway. He hit the ground with a thud, flailing around uselessly and shouting in surprise turned to anger.

The young Treecko looked at us wide-eyed, obviously overwhelmed by the drastic change of pace.

"Go find your mother," I hissed at him, startling him and getting him moving immediately. He ran off without a word, safe for now.

The asshole on the ground grunted in pain, and began to spit curses in no particular direction. Before he could push himself up and face those who interfered with his petty crime, I had already snatched Leah's paw and sped out of the alley. As effective as that was, we still didn't know anything about the law enforcement around here, and thus we'd have been forced to deal with that guy on our own. One surprise attack might have yielded some success, but we were much too tired and bruised to deal with a criminal right now. I lead us northbound, and we caught our breath on the stairway of a giant purple building.

"That was close!" I panted.

Leah nodded her head and took a moment to catch her breath. After a few seconds of this silence, she suddenly exploded. "Who would do something like that?! Rob a young child?"

I shook my head wordlessly. Quite the first impression that was! For all the views and amazement that this world had given me so far, there had been some pretty nasty Pokemon to give it equilibrium. There were plenty of good ones too, such as the one sitting beside me, but still it was to be expected for there to be a handful of individuals that committed actions that made their very existence in society unfavorable.

"At least we were there to stop it," I muttered. "I don't want to think about what would've happened if we hadn't."

I looked up at the waning daylight, and after a moment of silence, suddenly realized where we probably were. Seeing a bulliten board beside the building we were sitting in front of, I jumped up and made my way over to it.

"Hey, come read this," I said, prompting Leah to push herself out of a sitting position and trot over to stand beside me. Together we processed the line of text on the top of the notice board, confirming my suspicions.

 **NOTICE! EXPEDITION SOCIETY HEADQUARTERS!**

 _Exploring never gets boring!_

 _If you need assistance with something, allow one of our teams to help you through the magic properties of the connection orb._

 _Tours available from noon to dusk on weekdays._

 _Soliciting is prohibited under any circumstances. For the last time, we do not dabble in real estate!_

I backed up and little bit and looked up at the building to gather a better perspective of it. Now that I was focused on its details, it looked like it had been built much more intricately than any of the other modern-looking structures around. Not that many were around this particular area anyway, being entirely claimed by the building's horizontal influence. The whole structure wasn't too large to comprehend, but it was still easily big enough to effectively house everything that a club this prestigious should need for their research and livelihood.

"This is it," I said definitively. "We're here." I walked up to the door without hesitating, and I moved an arm to open it when I felt a paw on my shoulder. I turned back to look at my partner, who all of the sudden looked as anxious as she had on that night with the ghosts. "What's the matter?" I asked her.

Leah sighed, unsure how to answer. "It's just... what if this doesn't work out? What if everything goes wrong?"

I stared at her tripping over her worries, and sympathetically understood her troubled state. If only she knew how much I had been stressing over the exact same thing.

I racked my brain for cliché reassurances that might ward away her misgivings, and came up miserably empty. I was forced to settle with "We won't know until we try, will we?"

"I guess not, but... I mean... I don't know... I guess I'm just making a big deal out of nothing."

I paused in concern. I tilted my head and tried to break through the wall of stutters she was constructing. "If... you want to talk about this before we walk in, we can."

"It's no biggie, really," she answered. I stared at her unwaveringly for a few more seconds until she finally budged. With a long sigh, she spoke again. "Okay, fine. I'm... worried that if this doesn't work out, you'll... you'll leave. Th-that's all."

"What?" I blurted with a chuckle in the back of my throat.

"If we don't get in, I'm going to keep trying and trying," she elaborated. "This has been my dream forever now, and that'll never change. But... you have those Beeheyem to deal with, and I would think it's not in your best interest to stick around if the Society rejects us."

I wasn't quite sure what to say. Part of me wanted to keel over in laugher—not over the fact that Leah was worried, which I sympathized with in large, but instead for all of the worrying I had done over the exact same thing that now had her twisted up in a knot. I was so concerned that Leah would cut ties with me and return to where we came if our mission failed that I had allowed myself to underestimate her persistence. Of course she wouldn't just give up on the Society like that, she'd keep at it until something worked. And as for my own future, it had never even occurred to me that she might worry about me bailing on her. I had never even considered it. All it would have taken to stifle such silliness would be a bit of communication on my part.

"I made a promise on that first night on the hill, remember?" I said, now finding the proper reassurance that eluded me moments ago. "I'd never forget that. And no matter what happens through these doors, I won't break it. I swear."

Her face softened for a passing moment as she heaved a heavy sigh of relief. "That's good to hear. See, I told you it was stupid, hah..." Then her eyes steeled themselves once more. "But seriously, we'll always stick together from here on out. Deal?"

A nod and a smile were shared between us.

"Deal."

Not really knowing what to expect, I shoved open the doors anyway. Without a moment's hesitation longer, we both went inside, prepared to introduce Team Prism with confidence and clarity that would convey how much we deserved to be here. We had already come so far, and all of this worrying had done nothing but waste time. We left all of that dead weight at the doorstep, and entered as a new pair bonded by undeterred friendship.


	20. Emergence

Chapter 20 - Emergence

"Get back here!"

"You glutton!"

"We need to eat too!"

Basing my expectations off of what I had heard of this place, I had expected to emerge upon a scene of immaculate professionalism and propositional commotion. But instead, my first impression went a little like this...

The initial room of entry boasted spaciousness, with plenty of room for commerce and communion. The stillness present here almost seemed out of place when we walked in, as I had expected someone, anyone, to be waiting here. Did we perhaps come at a bad time?

In a way, it made the reassurances we had just been sharing a bit anti-climactic, or at the very least mistimed. Looking for signs of life, we scanned the room and saw two wide hallways to either side that I assumed spanned the whole compound. Down each of the corridors I caught a glimpse of what looked like a mess hall, and I even thought I saw some living spaces as well. What stood out to me the most was what was imbedded in the center of the giant room's floor: a hexagon with a circle sticking out on each vertex. The resemblance to the Society Gadget sitting in my bag was an obvious one to notice, and was another sign that we were in the right place.

Like all of the buildings outside, the inside of the headquarters was aesthetically designed to please the eye. The walls were constructed from materials of stone and wood that far surpassed the archaic construction of where we had been before. It was all so polished and neat and homey. Nothing was overdone, and yet everything was accounted for.

"Anyone home?" Leah announced our presence to the first floor, glancing down either hall for signs of a response.

There was none. However, her ears had twitched after her call had finished its brief echo, and she pointed her nose toward the staircase across the room and pursed her maw. "I thought I heard voices up those stairs." She began walking towards it, all the hesitation from a moment ago cast aside. "Let's expedite!"

I wanted to stop and question her, since it probably wasn't the best idea to just go poking around without anyone knowing we were here. The last thing I wanted was to leave a first impression of irresponsibility and impoliteness, and after how far we'd come to present ourselves as worthy. But, to do that we had to introduce ourselves somehow, and we didn't have the daylight to sit around in this first floor lobby waiting for someone to pass by.

The staircase extended from the back of the first floor lobby up to somewhere unspecified, stretching across the middle of the back wall for several meters. With a shrug and a prayer, I followed my partner up the steps to arrive at a scene that was anything but what I was expecting.

Again, I knew next to nothing of where we were and who commandeered the prestige that was supposedly diluted into the air of this building. If anything, I expected to meet Pokemon along the lines of hard-nosed and down to business, perhaps even to the point of self-indulgence. Another directionless fantasy I conjured had involved a bunch of quiet individuals drawing maps and reading books, not really exploring any more than sitting inside and studying a spectrum of sciences. The idle mind of a two-day journey couldn't help but design images of the approaching destination, even if most of the walk was pumped with adrenaline or plagued with fatigue.

But no. Reality had a funny way of, in a manner of natural nonchalance, one-upping your routine desperation to get a true glimpse of the future. The scene that we witnessed upon ascending to the second floor served as a pretty good example.

We had arrived into a circular room similar to the last, the only difference being the meeting table of the same shape in the center. Sitting on the table was easily the strangest-looking device I had ever seen. It was light blue, taking up most of the center of the table, and it was made entirely of holographic light. I would've been a bit more more curious about it if not for the distraction of a more imminent scene playing out between my arriving party and the odd contraption.

Several Pokemon stood facing away from us and toward the table, where one pink Pokemon with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth hovered against it with an innocently terrified look on her face. They had the pink Pokemon cornered, and none of her opposition looked all too pleased with her.

"I'm sorry!" she yelled at all of them. "I won't do it again!"

"How many times are you going to say that whenever you eat all of our food?" one of the angry Pokemon, a bird with a variation of brightly-colored feathers, howled back.

"You even ate the reviver seeds! Who does that?!" another Pokemon followed up with an explicitly loud squeak as she took a step forward - clearly a leader among them. The voice was decidedly feminine, and it belonged to one of the tiniest Pokemon I'd ever seen.

Compared to some of the beasts me and Leah had seen thus far, it was determined that the both of us weren't very large and mighty with all species considered, yet here I stood at least two and a half times the height that the mouse in front of me did. I might've been amused by this if not for the earsplitting screech she wielded that had the volume to echo through the entire compound.

But a loud mouth mattered little in a dungeon. Would this really be who we could potentially be working with? I hadn't seen any headstrong and buffed-up Pokemon march through yet, so it looked like we might have a decent chance after all. Hell, it didn't even look like some of these Pokemon were much older than Leah and I anyway. I might not have even identified them as explorers if not for the badges they wore, which looked exactly like ours.

"Aww come on Dedenne, don't act like they were wasted. They were delicious!" the pink cotton-candy-looking creature beamed, drawing my attention back to the scene of conflict. It was as if see had missed the little orange mouse's exponential increase in irritation, and took it as a compliment instead.

"We need those for dungeons you glutton!" a orange Pokemon with a large yellow ring enveloping his yelled. "And they don't even taste good, they're bitter as hell!"

"I'm just not as picky as you guys," the pink glutton shot back in a taunting manner. "You should work on having more taste."

Mistake. This nimble gibe went and activated Dedenne's trap card, and the bite-sized rodent absolutely lost it. "That's _it_!" the little orange mouse squealed, causing us all to go silent and stare. She glared daggers at the one who apprently ate all of their food, and allowed electricity to spark from her cheeks in an aggressive declaration intended to back up her loud vocals. "We've all had enough of you Swirlix! You're going to-"

The mouse paused before her seething roast could carry out, as we all saw Swirlix begin to lose balance out of nowhere. Before anyone could say anything, she was lying on the floor. Her tongue hung out the side the her eyes were closed.

"Too... hungry..." she whimpered. "I need... more food... Can't move..."

Everyone was dumbfounded. Even me and Leah were, and we hardly even knew what was going on.

"What?!" the mouse squeaked. "W-wake the hell up! How is that even... Ugh! You- you need to get us more food now!"

No luck. The Swirlix had fallen asleep on the stone cold floor, right in the middle of getting an earful. She wasn't faking it either; she really was out like a light. I could help but be reminded of the aftermath of a particular night spent chasing ghosts, followed up with a lecture that only I had to hear at the time. I could, with some amusement, sympathize with the frustration that the Pokemon in front of me were feeling with this revelation.

"Ah, crap," the bird sighed. "Now what?"

"I don't know," the brown and gray bunny whimpered. "I'm dying of hunger over here. I didn't even eat breakfast, and now this happens?"

"Bruh, I can barely even move," the orange weasel mumbled barely over his own growling stomach. "I don't even-"

Leah's voice cut into the mix. "We'll get you food!"

They all turned to look at us, not even having realized we were there until she had finally spoken up. Without even bothering to question who we were,!the brown bunny instead answered, "You will?"

"Uh..." I stammered, before shooting my partner a questioning glance. She nodded at me affirmatively. I looked back at the group of hungry Pokemon and improvised. "S-sure we will. We'll be... right back."

They all looked at each other, and either shrugged or hesitantly nodded their approval. Without wasting another moment, Leah and I turned to go back downstairs. We rushed out of the building in silence that was bound by subjection, only breaking it when we reached the evening outdoors.

"What just happened?" I tossed the question at Leah as we started making our way toward the center of town. "Why exactly are we getting them food if we don't know them?"

"This could be our chance!" Leah said excitedly. "What better way to make a good first impression than delivering food to the hungry?"

I wanted to argue, but then realized she actually had a pretty good point. There weren't many better ways to win someone over than getting them food. So I simply shrugged. This might not be too convenient for an already limited pocketbook, but it could be exactly what we needed. We'd been taking risks this whole time just to get right here, so there was no use stopping now.

"I saw a Kecleon shop earlier," I said while jogging along, my stiffened foot marginally protesting at the quickened pace. "We don't need to overdo it, just a few apples and berries should be fine."

"Couldn't we hit up one of those fancy places?" Leah suggested as we crossed over into the square. "I can smell dinner from here, mmm..."

I looked over at the cafe, and then at a couple other places on the bottom end of town. They all looked packed with customers, probably a common thing to happen at this time of early evening. "It'll take forever, and it's probably way more expensive than we can afford at the moment."

"You're no fun," Leah pouted. Even as she said it, however, she was already leading the way to the Kecleon shop at the edge of the square.

We walked up to find a green Kecleon and a purple Kecleon finishing up with a customer. I could've sworn that they looked exactly like the two Kecleon at Serene Village. The resemblance was unquestionable. An odd species, Kecleon were.

"Hello," Leah greeted in a voice somewhat broken by panting from the mad dash to the stand. "Do you have food for sale?"

"Food machine broke," the purple Kecleon replied in disinterest without bothering to look up. A few seconds of silence passed before the two shopkeepers suddenly began cackling hysterically, not making it any less awkward for Leah and I.

"Heh heh... Sorry, sorry, old joke," the green one finally said after collecting himself to some extent. Briefly clearing his throat, he resumed his professional posture. "Er- yes, we have a full stock of food. What will it be for you?"

"We'll have..." I hesitated and glanced at Leah, who just shrugged. On a whim I just decided to be modest with it. "Uh... a half dozen perfect apples. Lets see, those two baskets of fruit look good. A-and those loaves of bread. Those six reviver seeds you have... And..."

"And a big basket of chesto berries!" Leah piped cheerfully.

Rolling my eyes, I chided her. "This food isn't for us, remember?"

Chesto berries were Leah's absolute favorite, and every time we ate she'd prioritize obtaining them over all else. She craved them so much that I'd once overheard her bickering with her Pops about growing some in his fields, which to her unabridged irritation, didn't pan out too well (there was no way Carracosta would allow for his erratic daughter to have access to such an abundant source of caffeine). They could keep you awake and bouncing around if you ate a few of them, which obviously went hand-in-hand with Leah's typical everyday attitude. I had been thinking after we woke up as late as we did this morning that she probably wanted some for the road. Perhaps this had been the drug she was on when we first met?

"Aw, come on. You know I need that stuff to _live_ ," she pleaded, as if she knew what I was thinking and wanted to ride its wake.

I made a face at her to which she stuck out her tongue, and finally shook my head and sighed in acquiescence. "Fine, fine. It's your money too, I guess. Just try not to eat them all tonight."

Her ears perked up and she cheerfully threw on a big smile. "You're the best!"

"Alrighty then," the purple Kecleon said. "That'll be five-thousand, eight-hundred, aaand thirty Poké."

I paled. We only had a little over six-thousand, and we were about to spend nearly all of it on food for Pokemon we didn't even know. Clearly we needed to rethink-

"We'll take it!" Leah exclaimed. She handed them six large gold coins, and they promptly thanked us for it as the purple amphibian dropped a few specks of silver into her paws as change.

I could only stand and shake my head slightly, praying that this whole Society thing would work out and this money wouldn't end up being wasted. Otherwise we wouldn't have a place to sleep tonight. Then again, it wasn't like I thought six G's could net much along the lines of luxury anyway, certainly not in a populated place like this. Still, it beat not having any money at all by a mile.

"Say..." the green Kecleon spoke up as we were about to head back. "I've never seen you two around here before. New to the area?"

"Yes," I nodded. "We're travelers. Never been here before."

"Ah, I see!" acknowledged the purple Kecleon. "How are you enjoying Lively Town?"

"It's great!" Leah and I answered in unison. It was no surprise that Leah had spoken up so quickly, but here I didn't hesitate to admit it either. I hadnt been here for an hour and, mishap in the alley aside, I was already appreciating the reapings of such a well-oiled community.

"That's great to hear!" the green one replied with an amused chuckle. "Well, if you decide to stick around, we're here all day." He stuck out his arm, and we each shook his hand enthusiastically. "I'm Kecleon, but you may call me Mr. Kek." We shook hands with the purple one as well, who smiled and said nothing, and then went on our way.

We ran back to the compound as fast as our exhausted bodies would permit with the added weight of the food. I held up the baskets of apples and seeds with a vine carrying each, while Leah gripped the basket of chesto berries in her mouth. There were quite a few Pokemon out and about at this time, but not so many that we couldn't skirt through them without any trouble.

Primitive buffet in tow, we arrived at the Society's headquarters a second time. This time around there was no hesitation from us at the doorstep, bursting through and scrambling up the stairs where the unidentified group of hungry Pokemon were idling restlessly.

That Swirlix girl was still passed out on the floor, snoozing away. I had to stifle a laugh when I saw that someone, presumably one of the starving Pokemon who were chasing her, had drawn all over her fluffy face with some kind of black marker. How funny was that! These Pokemon clearly took safeguarding their food seriously, even against each other. It was such a territorial and yet lighthearted gesture at the same time.

The brightly-colored bird squawked happily when he saw us. "You actually got food! Buizel here thought you were just gonna bail."

"Hey, how could I have possibly known?" the orange Pokemon with the inflatable neck ring argued his comrade.

I didn't hesitate to hand them the two baskets I was carrying, turning to my partner before finishing the handoff. Not to any astonishment of mine, she was eyeing her own selection of berries longingly, and it took a light jab at her ribs for her to come to her senses and reluctantly hand it over to a near-drooling Dedenne. Not, however, before pocketing a pawful of the chesto berries into her own little knapsack that she had slung over her shoulder that she had been using to hold her stock of chewing twigs. I didn't say anything about it, since it really was our food and I was hoping we'd end up keeping a little anyway in case we had to spend the night on the streets. Then again, I estimated Leah would probably inhale the berries before the sun had set, so the issue of longevity wouldn't really be solved no matter what happened after this. I turned out to be the only one who saw her do it, as the strange group before us was far too enamored by the goods that we had bestowed on them to pay us any mind. Temporarily ignoring the gravity of the situation, I audibly scowled at her pettiness in a jovial tone, and she flashed me a sheepish grin in response.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" the brown and gray bunny exclaimed. "Let's eat before we all starve to damn death!"

A resounding "Yeah!" echoed through the entire group, as they collected the baskets and began running down a hallway. The fancy-colored bird Pokemon turned around and waved at us to follow.

 _That's a good sign, we're getting invited to eat with them._

We all went over to the mess hall, where the food was dumped onto plates and served up within seconds. Everyone started cramming food into their mouths and allowing the consummation to continue unhinged, pausing to swallow once every blue moon. Before diving into her own serving, the tiny Dedenne put the reviver seeds off to the side, probably to store them somewhere else later where they could uphold their high value instead of being used for cooking of all things - the nerve of that Swirlix!

While all of this occurred, Leah and I did what we could to blend it by grabbing a few apples and joining in. I hadn't really realized just how hungry I was until now, considering how we had elected to skip lunch after eating such a late breakfast. I found myself digging into the feast almost as ruthlessly as the Society members that we'd bought it all for. Leah went to work on the chesto berries, and crammed in a couple of apples and nuts as well to complete the meal. Any soul who didn't have their face deep into the food was conversing obnoxiously with each other, enjoying the prospect of each other's company. I noticed that the Swirlix whose gluttony had apparently led to all of this, had entered the room under the radar and snatched a seat for herself before anyone could object. By the time she was noticed, her face was too deep in a basket of peaches for anyone to contest her presence, for there was no way she was leaving once the food we brought got married to her taste buds.

Leah, who was usually talkative and energetic when big meals came along, sat close beside me and barely ever chatted with anyone but me. I did the same, still unaccustomed to the surrounding influence of Pokemon that supposedly held such a relevant position in society. A couple of them, the bunny and the bird, asked for our names and where we were from. This kind of basic small talk just about made up the conversation we engaged with this group during the meal.

Deciding it would be best to start filling my belly before most of the food disappeared, I started off with a couple of sweet peaches that I had never tasted before, and almost cringed at the deliciously high sugar concentration. Finishing those in no time, I decided I'd try some of the apples, which unlike a lot of the food, was actually familiar to my tastes. When I bit into one, however, I noticed right away the difference between this batch and the ones that would be served back further into the mainland. The Lively Town apples, for one, looked a lot nicer than the ones that we had been taught to pick from apple trees back at the village school. One might expect to find a blemish or two on every other apple when they were unbridled in exposed nature. The ones that I held now, however, looked almost artificial, probably grown in a controlled environment like an private orchard. They were smoother, and bigger, and shinier. Still, biting into one left an absence of taste that couldn't be replicated through unnatural means. These were well grown and appealing to the eye, but they didn't quite match the taste of the ones that came right off the branch.

I really hadn't expected so much to change on the way here, and yet even the damned apples were different in some egregious fashion. The people, the architecture, the landscape, the atmosphere, and now the food? Some nuances were undeniably positive, but others I wasn't so sure about. Sure, this journey had been absolutely necessary to keep the village uninvolved with all of my otherworldly problems, but that didn't mean I had to like it. So far I wasn't really sure how I felt about our progress, and I could only guess that this journey's final verdict would all depend on how things worked out here at the Expedition Society. We would either be here or not be here.

My presentiment was forcefully cast to the back of my focus by the sound of silverware tapping against glass five times, cutting off the voices and loud chewing of everyone in the room. The long-eared bunny Pokemon, whose name I found out was Bunnelby, was standing on the table holding a glass and fork up and looking around to make sure he had everyone's attention.

"Alright, everyone settle down!" He looked over at me and Leah, and everyone shifted their gaze to match his. We both fidgeted nervously in our seats under the gravity of their stares, unbeknownst to them that their impression of us could determine where we would be sleeping tonight. "I'd like to give a toast to the two kids that filled out bellies on this fine evening!"

"Ayyy!" the rest of the Pokemon cheered, clinking their glasses together and almost spilling some of their liquid in the process.

"Seriously, thank you guys," Dedenne said. The giddy smile she wore now bore no traces of the outrage she had exhibited not long ago in the other room. The mood swing from the tiny Pokemon caught me off guard, as she was now bouncing with positive energy.

"Yeah, you two know how to feed a starving Pokemon!" The voice was Swirlix's, and the general mood instantly went sour as she was shot hellish stares from all angles.

The once-delighted electric mouse in front of us whirled around, her mood swapping right back to infuriation in a blink of an eye. "You're the whole reason we were starving in the first place!" she shrilled. "It should've been you out there instead of these two, but instead you decided to take a nap on the floor!"

"I was just... hungry that's all..." she giggled back.

Dedenne rolled her eyes in disgust, about to rip apart Swirlix's excuse, when Bunnelby interrupted her. "Anyway, anyway! Now that we've got that out of the way..." he continued while still standing on the table. "If you don't mind me asking, why were you two here beforehand? Were you here for a tour?"

I shook my head in the negative. "Not quite." My voice came out as professional and courteous as I could make it in my tired state. "We came for a different reason."

Builzel hopped out of his chair out of nowhere, slamming his fist on the table and glaring at us. " _No_!" he yelled across the room as loud as he could. "For the last time, stop trying to sell us those damn spinner-things for the mentally disabled! They aren't even cool!"

"Chill out Buizel, that might not be why they're here," the bright-colored bird chided. Then he turned to us and narrowed his eyes. "That- that _isn't_ why you're here, right?"

"We're here because we want to join the Expedition Society!" Leah exclaimed.

I had planned to work my way to that part nice and easy, but I supposed diving in headfirst wouldn't hurt either. It probably wouldn't have made much difference in the long run anyway, so I played the enthusiasm card along with her and nodded my head twice as a follow up.

If they had food in their mouths at the time, they would've spit it all out judging by the looks of surprise on their faces.

"Well, that definitely is a different reason, I guess..." Dedenne mumbled after smacking her lips.

"Listen..." Buizel began and then paused, as if unsure how to properly choose his next string of words. "We do appreciate the food and all. You really came through with that. But... we can't just let you join out of nowhere."

It was the answer that I had been anticipating all day, and yet it still sent an ice-cold shiver of dread down my spine.

"Kids can't join the Expedition Society," Bunnelby said, looking a bit crestfallen. "Even though you two seem capable, the rules are the rules. By the looks of you two, you'll need to come back in at least a year or two if you want to try out."

"And even then," the Dedenne squeaked above him. "The chief would have to accept you. And he almost never accepts anyone from the mob of traveling Pokemon who come along every now and then asking to join. I'm sorry."

The worries of before were now squeezing back into focus, and I had to look at the floor to hide the distress in my eyes. Did it all end here, because of some stupid age rule that held us captive on the whim of ineligibility? Was this journey a big waste of time after all? Did I just abandon the only home I've ever had to be turned down right here?

This couldn't be happening.

Leah wasn't about to take no for an answer, immediately opening her mouth in protest.

"Look, we might be a bit younger than we'd need to be, but we still want to try! Let us at least have a chance to prove we can do it!"

"Okay!" The reply belonged to Swirlix, who had crumbs all over her drawn-on body from a ravenous assault on the food we brought. Everyone glared at her as soon as she said it.

"It's not up to you!" the multi-colored bird, who identified himself earlier as Archen, squawked at her. He still seemed angry about the food, although judging by the dirty looks Swirlix was getting, it was pretty easy to tell that they all shared the affliction.

"Last time I checked, you aren't the chief Swirlix," Bunnelby added with his eyes narrowed.

"I know," she replied with the same cheerful tone of unsettling indifference. "I just feel like that's something the chief would say, that's all."

Dedenne spoke up to argue. "That doesn't make any sense, though. It was the chief who decided not to let kids join in the first-"

"Hold on."

The voice wasn't mine, and it wasn't Leah's either. It came from behind us, where a gray and white Pokemon stood at the doorway.

"Mincinno! You're back early!" Bunnelby exclaimed. "How'd the expedition go?"

The Mincinno threw his bag down by the wall, and then made his way over to lean casually on the table. He looked like he'd just been hiking through a shitstorm of sand and dirt, the stuff changing his naturally white fur to a dark gray with a deeper hint of black and brown. His eyes told of a long day's worth of troubles. Perhaps it was more like a week's, or a month's. And here I was thinking I was tired.

"Take a guess," he sighed, his hardened voice doing well to fit his unkempt state. "Our source wasn't accurate at all, and we ended up crawling through the god-forsaken desert with nothing to show for it but clay and sand."

Everyone began to converse amongst themselves about whatever this big disappointment was, when the Mincinno waved his hands and called out to silence them.

"Hey, y'all just listen for a sec! I'll give you details later if you want, but right now we have something else to address that's more important." He walked over to me and Leah, and after looking us over for a moment, turned back towards the rest of the Pokemon. "We need to let these two join."

Another diffusion of shock coursed through the room, enticing more widening eyes and the gagging sounds of nearly spit-out food.

"What makes you say that?!" Buizel challenged fiercely after narrowly gulping down the roll he almost spit out. "You just now got back! You don't even know them!"

"Actually Buizel, my team arrived back from the Sand Continent over two hours ago," the Mincinno stiffly corrected the water-type. "We stopped by Mr. Mime's Muffins to grab a bite to eat, which is where the other two are still at. I decided to come back ahead of them to let y'all know we were back, when I saw these two hobble into the square. They went and saved a young child from Krookodile's dumb lackey not even ten minutes into their visit."

Dedenne's eyes widened, and her voice grew a pitch softer. "Wait, what?" She turned to us expectantly, thoroughly looking us from head to toe with renewed interest. "Leah and... Sage, was it? Could you detail what happened?"

Leah took the opportunity to explain. "Sage here saw a Treecko getting taken advantage of by that Kroko-jerk, and we..."

"They knocked him on his ass!" Mincinno interrupted, a mixture of revered approval and unabridged arrogance in his voice as he drove his fist into his open palm. "No hesitation from either of them, at any point. Not even with the Snivy's limp. That's the kind of guts we need here if we're gonna get anything done and solve this crisis."

"Last I checked, you aren't the chief either Mincinno," Bunnelby quipped at him, making him fold his arms and frown. "Even if they did do something like that, it comes down to the chief's decision, and the chief said that kids can't join the Society. Especially not in such stressful times. And plus, we aren't even supposed to talk about-"

"Did someone say stressful times?"

The sound originating from down the hall indicated that we'd be seeing another new face, and yet the voice that belonged to it was incredibly familiar.

It sounded like my prediction was right after all, as if that clumsy bastard hadn't already made it obvious that late night on the hill.

"Hello, I'm ba-a-a-ack!" Ampharos declared joyously as he skipped into the room, stumbling a bit on his way in.

Walking elegantly at his side was a much shorter Pokemon with what looked like a giant venus flytrap on the back of her head, made entirely of metal. It was facing away from us, however, as the strange feminine Pokemon stared curiously at me and Leah with analyzing red eyes filtered trough a complimenting pair of black glasses. Right away she gave off a mysterious air of authority. Her steely gaze set me on edge a bit, but it didn't seem to be one intended to produce harm, so I shoved the presumptive inquiry aside.

"Chief!" the Pokemon behind me cheered when he entered the room.

"Everyone!" Ampharos cheered back at them. He saw me and Leah right away, and opened his mouth to acknowledge our arrival, when he suddenly noticed Mincinno leaning against the table with his arms folded. "Oh... Mincinno? You're back quite early. And judging by the look on your face, not for good reason."

"You said it, chief," he mumbled, staring sideways at the floor.

"We'll discuss it tomorrow." That was all Ampharos said of the matter, before turning his full attention to me and Leah and putting on a bright smile. "I see Team Prism has gone the distance after all! How are you two enjoying Lively Town so far?"

Leah gave an enthusiastic answer for both of us. "It's all so great! The buildings are great, the location is great! And the food!"

"Ooh, you and I are gonna get along well!" Swirlix giggled.

"They haven't been accepted yet, Swirlix!" Dedenne hissed a little too loudly, allowing everyone to hear.

Ampharos furrowed his brow, his lighthearted attitude becoming focused and serious in a moment's notice. "Accepted? Might someone explain?"

"Well, you see..." I stammered, trying not to crumble under the immense pressure that came with Ampharos's impression of us, at least as far as competency went. "...we came all this way not just to see Lively Town, but to join the Expedition Society too. We figured out by now that you're the head of this group, and we wanted to come see you about it."

I wanted to add to it to make it more appealing, maybe by mentioning the Beeheeyem or spicing our resolve with a bit of heart-rubbing persuasion. Instead I was forced to realize how stupid it all looked; two slightly underaged travelers, ungroomed and faces drooping with exhaustion from things that these professionals probably shrugged aside daily, one with a poorly-wrapped leg and a limp to go with it. That's why when Ampharos began to laugh heartily at my feeble request, I wasn't surprised one bit. I was expecting as much.

"Why, of course you two can join!" he laughed, his serious attitude fading away as quickly as it was braced. "Dedenne, if you would go show them thei-"

"WHAT?!"

The exclamation came from almost everybody in the room at the same time, myself included. Only Leah and Mincinno broke the pattern, the former overwhelmed by the electric-types words and unable to speak or move as she processed the statement, and the latter shooting the rest of them a grin that said 'I told you so'.

"B-but chief, kids aren't allowed to join the Society!" Dedenne gasped.

Ampharos brandished a genuinely confused expression when he heard this, his brow furrowing once again and his entire demeanor following suit. "Is this true?" he asked, rubbing the orb on his forehead. "What discrimination! Who could've thought to enforce a troublesome regulation?"

"...That would be you, chief," Dedenne flatly informed him.

Ampharos's eyes went wide, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. "Did I really?"

The Pokemon at his side spoke for the first time in a voice that matched her authoritative demeanor. "Yes," she seemed to almost sigh, as if this kind of miscommunication was commonplace. "That was one of the first rules you made, for safety and maturity reasons. Remember?"

Ampharos considered this for a moment. After scratching his chin and staring at the floor in deafening silence, he cleared his throat and hummed in what might've been remembrance. "Ah, yes. I do believe I recall now, thank you. Well, I must say, such silliness has no place in our Society. Therefore, I now declare that rule to be-"

He struck an incredibly flamboyant pose, sticking his right arm into the air and resting his left on his hip, while pointing his nose up parallel with his extended arm. It was the same pose he'd used back when Leah and I first met him, when he'd called himself the 'Dashing Wonderer'.

"-null and void!" the lighthouse Pokemon loudly finished after basking for an instant in his own splendor.

He dropped the fancy pose and eyed me and my partner. "And thus I propose we accept these two children of Serene Village into our Expedition Society."

"Woah, woah," Bunnelby interrupted. "Chief, do you know these two from anywhere?"

"Why, yes, Bunnelby, I do. We have done some adventuring together, and they have proven to, through the nourishment of their potential, have the qualities necessary to become outstanding explorers."

Buizel, Bunnelby, Dedenne, and Archen all stayed silent.

"Does anyone have any comments on the matter?" Ampharos asked when he saw their slightly bewildered expressions.

"Well, if you know them, and they've proven themselves, then I guess I don't see why we shouldn't let them join." Archen concluded with a light shrug

"Yeah, I agree!" Buizel added. "They've been here only like an hour and they've already covered for Swirlix's stupid food problems, so why not?"

"I do not have _problems_!" Swirlix shot back. "I just have good taste!"

"A little too much taste," Bunnelby muttered under his breath, making the others snicker.

"Glad to hear!" Ampharos cheered, apparently not catching the snide exchange. He walked over to me and Leah and patted our backs. "Everyone welcome our newest members! Leah and Sage of Serene Village! Be nice to them."

"Good to have you!" Dedenne applauded.

"Hey! Good luck!" Buizel followed up.

"That's what I'm talking about," Mincinno said with a nod of approval.

"Thank you for having us!" Leah cheered with them. "We'll do our absolute best!"

Ampharos scanned the room, taking note of who was and wasn't present. "It still appears like you two don't know most of us very intimately, not to mention you still haven't met the entire roster of members. I would normally have you two take part in our traditional process of introduction and initiation, but it is late, and you two need your sleep. We shall introduce these measures in the morning, when you have regained your strength. I imagine it is already well past your bedtime, no?"

"We don't really have a- uh, I mean..." I stammered. "...Yeah, we probably need sleep."

A lot of sleep.

"Yes, you two do appear more overworked than the last time we met. It must have been a long two days for you two, hmm?"

Neither of us could deny it. The last thing I wanted to do was exhibit any form of weakness in front of the Society members who I would supposedly be working with now, but with bloodshot eyes and a badly twisted ankle, it was kind of impossible not to. More than anything, though, I was just relieved that the journey was finally coming to an end. None of the daytime expeditions that had become a daily routine for Team Prism had ever made me feel so mortal.

Seeing our weary halfhearted nods, Ampharos gestured to the tiny electric mouse once more. "Dedenne, the third room on the right."

"On it, chief."

She lead us away from the mess hall, where I heard the remaining Pokemon call out a round of thanks for the feast we had used all of our money on. Used, but thankfully not wasted.

The room Dedenne led us to was square, with a single window opposite the doorway and two nice feather beds set up a few feet apart. At the right hand side of the room was a large desk, with two seats set up on either end. On the desk was plenty of blank paper, as well as some that had various drawings and sketched maps on their surfaces. There was also a lantern, which Dedenne opened the lid of and sparked to life with a sharp jolt from her cheek-whiskers. She went to hang it from a hook that extended a couple feet down from the ceiling, but stopped when she realized there was no way she could hope to reach that high.

"I got it." I took the lantern with a vine and effortlessly latched it into place, where it hung and gave the entire room bright light.

"Alright, this will be your room. I was using it as an extra personal space beforehand, but the chief had me clear most of my junk out of here just last week," she twitched her whiskers. "Maybe he was expecting you two?"

 _Maybe he was...? We did tell him we were coming at some point, after all._

She shrugged. "Anyway, you two will share it, if that's alright."

Leah and I glanced at each other a little awkwardly. It did seem a little weird to share a room, but I figured it would be for the best since we would probably be working together a lot more now. I wasn't going to let it distract me.

"It's no big deal," I reassured my new coworker.

Dedenne smiled. "Good to hear! We're all family here at the Expedition Society, am I right?"

Another awkward glance between me and my partner. I thought I caught her cheeks turn a light pink, but it was likely just the glint of the flickering lamp above us.

"Right," Leah answered her, clearing her throat afterwards.

Dedenne continued giving information in a stoic and regulatory tone. "Alright, you two obviously aren't accustomed to our schedule yet, so someone will come in and wake you in the morning when it's time for your day to begin. Probably me. We usually wake at first-light, but you might occasionally find yourself with slow days where you'll get to sleep in a bit. The chief will alert you of the night before... if he remembers to, that is. In case you haven't noticed, he tends to be a bit unorganized at times."

I took it all in and nodded. "Noted. Anything else?"

"Nope," she chirped. "Well, I know you've already heard it a few times now, but... welcome to the Expedition Society! We are all really happy to have you."

Before we could answer, she pulled out some kind of small cylinder from behind her back and pulled the string hanging off of it. A shower of confetti burst out with a loud _pop_ and trickled down through the air. Dedenne giggled, murmuring something about "always wanting to do that", and then scuttled off out the door and down the hall.

Leah and I stood there, confetti resting on our idle shoulders and coating the floor. After about fifteen seconds of silence passed, she finally turned to me and spoke.

"Sage?"

I turned to her. "Leah?"

A few more seconds of silence passed before the two of us, perfectly in sync, fist-pumped the air in triumph.

"We did it!" she exclaimed, her exasperation unable to contain the excitement. "Holy Miltanks, we're actually here!"

"Ha! We really are!" I echoed. "It was all worth it... we made it."

Leah began pacing the room, looking around as if she still couldn't grasp that any of it was real. "I can't believe it... I've always wanted to join the Expedition Society. Everyone always said I couldn't, but..." She turned to me suddenly, running over and giving me a big hug.

"Woah, easy now!" I laughed, almost falling over due to my ankle.

She let go, the smile still on her face. "Thank you. Oh my Arceus, thank you Sage. I seriously couldn't have done this without you."

I nodded and beamed, humbled by her praise. "Neither of us could've. We're a team, and tomorrow, we're gonna put in work and show that we belong." I stuck a hand out, and we each used just about the last of our energy high-fiving.

The relief that hit me as I was so sovereign that I felt like I might pass out into a week long sleep. All of that stress, everything leading up to this point, was going to be worth it after all. It surprised me a little bit just how bad I had wanted this, not just for Leah's sake, but for my own as well. I had always come up with some excuse to our explorations, telling myself that I was only doing temporary work to strengthen myself and get closer to figuring out who I was. I had told myself that joining the Expedition Society would, more than anything, be for furthering my resolve to collect answers.

Now that we had finally reached that goal, I realized how insignificant a lot of that now felt. That kind of goal can be chased with or without the Society, and yet here I had been practically choking on the anticipation. Now that we were here, and Ampharos had done his silly pose and accepted us, I experienced a comfort I had never felt before. One that I never thought I'd be able to feel while trapped in this world - not that I thought 'trapped' was a proper way to describe it anymore anyway.

I didn't know if it was a good thing or not, but the concept of a future where I never became human again nestled itself in the shadow of this overwhelming relief. It was true that the only lead I had on understanding my situation wasn't beneficial to my well-being, to say the least about those damn Beeheyem. If I had truly lost those three through this hike through the mountains, could I really shove these nagging questions aside and just... live? I tried that once, and it all came crashing down on my head. But the circumstances were different this time... could Ampharos's verdict tonight fill the gap and allow me to make the best of what I have and what I am? It was obvious that Leah planned to do so, so why shouldn't I?

I'd worry about it later. Everything could be worried about later now. We were here, and we were safe for the time being. That's all that mattered right at that moment. Even the surreality of the dawn of our next chapter couldn't hold back the divine urge to fall onto the inviting beds laid out side by side for us. Thankfully I had the foresight to take down the lantern and blow it out before doing so, or else I definitely would have been too immobile to care.

"Goodnight Sage," I distantly heard a familiar voice call.

"Goodnight Leah."

Continuous thoughts of my future couldn't hold on as my mind began to slip into another place as soon as I felt the unnaturally soft feathers graze my scales. Only one brief intuition left a mark, before being whisked away with the last of my consciousness:

Could I get used to being a Pokemon...  
forever?


	21. Action and Procedure

Chapter 21 - Action and Procedure

Yellow light colliding with the front of my eyelids finally tempted them to open and meet the plaster ceiling above. I could feel something peculiarly fluffy touching my scales, and I might've looked down to inspect it if I wasn't so embellished by its texture. Every ounce of muscle was weighed down by a thousand-ton anchor, so movement wasn't an option either. At least my ears functioned during this trance, alerting my not-so-functional brain to the steady breathing of someone close-by. I found it offsetting that I couldn't hear or feel any significant wind currents, instead only faintly picking up a conditioned draft at my flank. I could hear no birds chirping above or trees whistling in the breeze - only the imperceptible sounds of activity outside.

The warmth of my bed coaxed my eyes to close again against the urge of morning light. After a few minutes of dozing in and out of consciousness passed, I began to recollect what had happened yesterday. We had walked through a cave, where I had hurt my foot. We reached Lively Town, and then ate a lot of food, and-

 _Pop!_

My heart hit the ceiling and my eyes shot back open. I hastily scrambled to my feet, unsheathing my vines halfway in case there was some kind of threat behind the impetuous sound.

My vision was spotty and needed to adjust to the light pouring behind me through the window, but I could still vaguely make out the form of a small orange mouse rolling on the ground laughing. She had the confetti gun from last night with her, and I could tell she had used it again by the strips of colored paper that floated down all throughout the room. To my side I saw a flash of orange and yellow spring up from the other feather bed on the floor. Leah shook her head a few times to clear some of the disarranged fur that had fallen over her face, and then glared at Dedenne.

"Rise and shine, newbies!" the electric-type giggled, picking herself off the floor and flashing her big buck-teeth in a cheeky smile.

"Is that really necessary?" I grunted.

"Yep! That's only the first step of your inauguration." Dedenne cleared her throat and then adopted a more professional tone. "But on a serious note, Ampharos wants everyone to meet in the main room for morning announcements in five, so get yourselves ready. I'll see you out there."

With that, she scurried off down the hall in similar fashion to how she did last night. I watched her go, and processed her words. My head still felt heavy, but now the events of yesterday had been recollected.

Leah was not her usual energetic morning self, the journey having taken an equal toll on her as it did on me. She stretched her limbs for a few prolonged seconds by extending her tail upward and placing her paws on the ground just anterior to her nose, before firmly shakimg her head in place a couple of times to wake herself up.

"...Oh, g'mornin' Smugleaf," she yawned when she saw me out of the corner of her eye. "She said something about morning announcements?"

"Mm hmm. Five minutes."

She stared into the distance for a moment, nodding her head absently, before her eyes abruptly widened in realization. "Oh! Oh yeah! We're members of the Expedition Society now!"

She sprang to action immediately, grabbing her scarf and hastily throwing it into a loop around her neck. I instinctively felt my own neck seeing her do it, and realized that I had been so tired last night that I didn't even thought to remove my own. Then again, I had done that plenty of times since Leah had given it to me and hardly even noticed. I figured that it was just because I had worn it so often that it had become congenital around my neck and basically never needed to be removed. Not for the first time, I gave it a sniff thinking I might need to wash it, as it surely had soaked up some of the sweat and blood from our recent adventures. I would get the same results every time; the square of mysterious fiber was just as immaculately spotless as it was when Leah first gave it to me. She had said that the scarves were "basically indestructible", so I guess it made a little bit of sense.

Meanwhile, Leah had already tossed all of our items into the bag and popped a twig in her mouth, while motioning for me to follow her out the door.

"Come on! We can't be late on day one!"

With a wordless agreement, I followed her out as she bounded down the hallway. We emerged into the main chamber, where Ampharos and his assistant with the glasses were standing before a group of half-asleep Pokemon who were idly chatting amongst themselves. I saw a few Pokemon from the day before already there, as well as a few I didn't know. A couple more were filtering in from the opposite hallway, where I saw more living spaces existed. Once we all stood at attention before him, we waited in silence for him to speak.

For a moment, nothing happened. The Pokemon standing beside Ampharos seemed to notice his slowness right away, and nudged his thigh to get his attention.

"Huh, hmm?" he mumbled, shaking his head and blinking a few times. He shot his companion a blank stare and then scanned the room. "-Oh... Oh! Yes, it seems that everyone is here. I apologize to you all if I am a bit slow on this lovely morning. I'm afraid I was up very late last night."

"Working on Operation Chisel?" Archen asked loudly.

Ampharos shot him a look of mild disapproval. "Something of the sort. We will all discuss that topic another time."

Archen opened his beak to respond, but said nothing. Ampharos cleared the last of the morning's grogginess out of his throat, and then put on a cheerful smile. "In the meantime, we shall begin this fine day by introducing our two newest members! I know this comes off as forthright, but would you two mind stepping up and telling us a bit about yourselves?"

We both walked up to stand beside Ampharos, and I stepped up to go first. I obviously couldn't tell them about my human origins, at least until they got to trusting me, so for now, I had to keep it simple. A little white lie thrown in there couldn't hurt.

"Uh- hi," I started a little sheepishly. "My name is Sage, from Serene Village. I was adopted by a Nuzleaf, and I've always enjoyed the rush of adventure since I was a small child, so I wanted to join the Expedition Society to further that drive."

I took no more than ten seconds on the introduction. After I was finished, I nodded at the nervous Fennekin beside me for her to start. I felt sympathy for her, since she was clearly stressed out about what they thought of her. It wasn't like Leah to get all nervous like this unless it was about something super important.

"Don't worry about it," I whispered. "Just be yourself."

She nodded gratefully, and stepped up. "Hi," she began, her voice sounding more confident as she went along. "I'm Leah, and I'm also from Serene Village. That's where I met Sage here, who, with Ampharos's help, I formed an exploration team with."

"Is that how you got those badges?" Buizel asked.

She nodded. "They're only Junior Society badges, but they worked just fine for us."

Everyone in the crowd looked at us funny. They clearly had no idea what she was talking about.

"Junior badges? What the hell?" Mincinno remarked, crossing his arms.

"Oh!" Ampharos exclaimed. I looked back at him and saw that he was trying to contain laughter. "I must confess that I lied to you two when I gave you that equipment. It was the real Expedition gear all along. In truth, there is no such thing as the 'junior' Society. Your gadget and badges are as authentic as can be."

Leah's eyes widened in surprise. "So does that mean we've been doing real Society work all along?"

"Quite right," Ampharos admitted. "Even though the work done from the connection orb technically isn't delegated by the Expedition Society, it still does make up a lot of what we do. In other words, you've basically been freelancing up to this point, and you will continue to do so on most of your days as official members. Now that you're here, however, you'll be able to help us with our worldwide cartography program, as well as other large-scale projects that could affect many Pokemon in many places."

I nodded, memorizing the components of how this was all supposed to work. Right off the bat I was pleased that our routine would basically return to how it was in Serene Village, as it occurred to me that there would probably be plenty of jobs to do this close to the heavily-populated coastline. But Ampharos also mentioned larger-scale projects too, which could prove beneficial to our growth, and earn us a bit of respect on top of it. And I'm sure Leah's excited about the exploring and mapmaking, which was the biggest reason she wanted to join in the first place.

"Wait. There is one thing I forgot," Ampharos continued, reaching behind him to grab something. He held a brown leather bag with the Society's emblem encrusted onto the sides in a brass color, that looked nicer than anything we'd had access to back in Serene Village. He handed it to Leah, who examined its features and then passed it to me to do the same. "As an honorary member of the Expedition Society, you shall receive this stylish bag designed to hold items efficiently and conveniently. Don't worry if you lose it or it tears. We've got a whole bunch since they're susceptible to wear out eventually."

I quickly moved the few items we had remaining from the journey into the new bag, and then gave Leah the old empty one. I slung the new one around my shoulder, adjusting the strap to fit my body length. Right away I could feel how its design would help save precious time in a tight spot, with specific pockets and sections sewed for certain items. I put the one blast seed we had left in the pocket right where my relaxed arm would rest on top of, so that I could whip one out in a moment's notice. This would've really been nice to have when that Mandibuzz appeared over Revelation Mountain, so I could've grabbed an escape orb in time instead of Leah having to save my tail with that fireball-interception stunt.

Ampharos scanned the room once more, and moved on. "Together, these two make up Team Prism. They will be working with all of you on various missions around the world, and for now will be operating in the local area doing smaller jobs that various Pokemon need completed, just as most of you do. Once morning announcements have concluded, and they have completed the traditional introductions, you may become acquainted with them as you please. As I said last night, do be kind to them, and make sure to make them feel welcome."

All of the Pokemon nodded their assent. What caught my eye, however, was the obvious smirks that a few of them tried to force down when Ampharos mentioned the "traditional introductions". From the 'one-big-family' impression I'd been getting from my new home so far, I'd kind of figured there would be some kind of meme-trial of sorts for new members. Maybe they'd have us clean the entire compound? More likely would be that they'd have us get food for everyone, judging by the ravenous actions of some of them last night. Whatever was in store, it surely couldn't be as difficult as the journey we'd been through to get here, so I wasn't too worried. I had a full night's sleep to back me up this time.

"Now that they have introduced themselves, it is time for all of you to do the same." Ampharos nodded his head at them to start. "One at a time."

"I'll go first!" Buizel jumped forward before any of his companions could object. "I'm Buizel, and I go on expeditions! If you're exploring the ocean, or mapping out water currents, I'm your guy!"

"Ooh, I'm next!" Dedenne and Swirlix called out at the same time, before glaring at each other.

"Me first!" Swirlix demanded, making Dedenne visibly bristle.

The steel-type at Ampharos's side clamped the large mouth on the back of her head down tight, sending a ringing metallic clang throughout the room and making Dedenne and Swirlix instantly stop their bickering. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "You two, cut it out please. Dedenne, go first."

"Gladly!" the little mouse exclaimed, stepping forward to greet us with a smile. "I'm Dedenne, and I'm in charge of communications around here! I don't go exploring as often as the others, so you'll find me mostly stationed here either organizing the place or keeping everyone in touch with each other."

"And I'm Swirlix!" the rounded chef exclaimed, hopping up to the front. I had to hide a grin when I noticed she still had faint traces of marker drawn on her face from when she passed out in the middle of the upstairs room the day before. She licked her lips with her long tongue and bounced up and down as she gave her introduction. "I'm the steward! I don't explore that often, but I make sure everyone has a full belly when they're finished with a long day of hard work! ...Except... sometimes... I just can't wait to eat."

"See, that's what I'm talking about!" Buizel fumed. "You've gotta cut that out!"

Bunnelby stepped up before Buizel or Swirlix could engage in a legitimate argument with each other. He twitched his ears and nodded his head in a curt greeting.

"I'm Bunnelby. I'm the one in charge of excavation missions. If you need any quarrying or drilling done, I'm the one you want to consult. It's a pleasure to have you both." He nodded again and stepped back into the crowd. Next up was Archen.

"My name's Archen, as you probably already know. I'm in charge of aerial exploration, which is often much more practical than ground travel." The multi-colored bird scratched the back of his head with one of his claws, and let out two syllables of a chuckle. "...Only problem is that I can't actually fly..."

I tilted my head, taking note of how the design of his wings would indeed make it difficult to get airborne.

"I don't mean to be rude by asking, but how can you manage to explore up in the sky if you can't fly?" Leah asked a little hesitantly, hoping to avoid offending the flightless bird.

Archen laughed and waved his arms dismissively. "Don't worry, I get that question all the time. If you want to know the answer, I could show you two what I've been working on sometime that allows me to do what I do." With that, he stepped back into the crowd, allowing someone else to come forward.

Emerging from the crowd were two Pokemon this time. One of them was best described as a floating string of flowers, with her head being a light green crest with an orange face and bright yellow eyes. Attached to her tiny arms was what looked like a small vine that was entirely enveloped by flowers of many colors. The line of flowers curled into a circle that ended near the back of the her head, forming a circular-shaped outline.

The Pokemon beside her bore no resemblance to her floating companion, bearing flippers rather than flowers. Her snout bore a subtle relation to my own, only it wasn't as long and ended with a pink spherical nose rather than curving off entirely. Her entire body varied anywhere from a sapphire blue to a blue so pale it was basically white, coloring her segmented ears and three ruffle-like growths extending from her midsection.

"Hello-o-o!" the one with the flower string sang out in blatant defiance toward the slow pace of the average morning. "I'm Comfey! I'm the Society's standing doctor, and this is my assistant Brionne!" The string of flowers moved from its circular position and rested on the water-type's shoulders, making her rub the back of her head nervously.

"H-hi," she stumbled, obviously uncomfortable with the attention. "I'm Brionne. I-if you're sick or something, we'd be happy to help you." She visibly shrunk with every word, and it seemed like she couldn't wait to return to the crowd with her energized medical superior. I was a bit amused by the stark contrast between Comfey, who was practically doing mid-air cartwheels with her energy, and then Brionne, who looked completely flushed from this little social accommodation. Regardless, they both seemed equally nice.

Rounding out the whole group, I saw the Mincinno from last night emerge, as well as two more Pokemon that I didn't know. They immediately gave the impression of a team, as both Pokemon I hadn't seen before flanked the Mincinno on either side, with the normal-type in the middle clearly being the leader.

One of the two Pokemon looked peculiarly familiar to a fire-type species that would sometimes appear in one of the dungeons around Serene Village. But this one was clearly no fire-type, with its coloration sporting an icy-blue as opposed to the regular orange. The other one with them was a pale yellow lizard-like Pokemon with a tapering tail and two long ears hanging down from its black forehead.

"I'm Mincinno, from the southern Mist continent. We met last night," Mincinno stated flatly, still considerably sounding like he hadn't gotten any sufficient sleep lately. "I'm the leader of Team Carbon, which consists of the three of us. It's good to have you." He took a step back as soon as he finished, gesturing for his teammates to introduce themselves.

The light blue Pokemon looked to the side for a second, and began with her own basic introduction. "Hello," she said, padding up a couple steps and bowing her head in greeting. "My name is Vulpix." Similar to Mincinno, there was an ambience of expenditure to her voice. From the tidbit I'd heard last night, this team had been on some kind of demoralizing journey through the desert, which I'm sure didn't cooperate with what I assumed could be her ice-typing. Regardless, she tried her best to put on an enthusiastic smile for us and give a good first impression. "I traveled with Comfey and Brionne from the Alolan Isles to join the Expedition Society about eight months ago, and went on to form a team with these two. It's nice to meet you." She bowed her head once she had finished, and stepped back to allow her remaining teammate to go.

Finally came the yellow lizard-like Pokemon. Unlike the other two, he didn't seem the slightest bit tired. He walked up to us and nodded his head. "And I'm Helioptile, born in Sahara Town of the Sand Continent. I round out Team Carbon with these two. I guess you could call me the glue-guy for our team. I keep these two in check, you feel me?"

Mincinno rolled his eyes, and grabbed the electric type by the ear to pull him back in line, making him yelp in protest. "Sure you do, you nutcase," he scoffed while shaking his head. Vulpix giggled at the exchange between them as Helioptile finally gave up trying to break free and crossed his arms with a huff.

With everyone in the general crowd of members having introduced themselves, it was now the Pokemon at Ampharos's side who stepped up. We turned to face her, and she took off her glasses and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Mawile. I'm studying the history of the world, which includes subjects ranging from archeology to mineralogy. If you'd like any kind of research done, I'm the one you want to talk to. I'm also second in command around here, so I can give you assignments for specific projects if Ampharos isn't available."

"But you won't have to concern yourselves about that!" Ampharos jumped in, sticking his nose high into the air. "You can depend on me to always be available to meet your needs!"

"We can't even depend on you to find the bathroom," Bunnelby snickered under his breath. A few other members giggled with him, earning them all a heated glare from Mawile.

Ampharos didn't hear him, or just didn't care, and rounded out the introductions with his own. "And lastly, I am Ampharos! I am the chief of the Expedition Society, and I manage all operations that go on around here. If you need assistance with something, or you'd like to have a chat, my office is on the second floor near the infirmary."

Leah raised a hand, and began speaking with a hint of suspicion in her voice when he acknowledge her. "Hey, Ampharos... you said way back in Serene Village that you didn't work for the Expedition Society... and yet here you are, as the chief. What's the deal with that?"

"You are right, I did say that. It is true, I do not work for the Society... instead I manage the Society! My role is to make these Pokemon work!" He extended his arm to point at the group standing before us.

Dedenne's face scrunched up in disgust. "Eew, how obnoxious!" she squeaked.

"Dang, I don't wanna work for a boss like that!" Archen concurred.

Buizel motioned for them to huddle up. "Guys, let's start thinking about where we want to work next."

I watched with some amusement as their blatant sarcasm blew by Ampharos entirely, whose eyes widened in dismay upon hearing their words.

"O-oh, no, I didn't mean it like that!" he interrupted. "Please reconsider, dear friends!"

Seeing their chief's distressed reaction, they all began laughing lightheartedly. Ampharos was suddenly caught between trying to convince them to stay and figuring out what was so funny.

Meanwhile, Mawile approached Leah and I, intending not to waste any more time. "We actually have one more member," she said in a voice that was a bit warmer than before. She gestured with the mouth on the back of her head to the staircase towards the back of the room, and explained. "He's probably sleeping up there, on the third floor observatory. As the final part of your integration into the Expedition Society, you'll need to wake him up and become acquainted with one another. Good luck."

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh... what for?"

The steel-type uncharacteristically snickered, saying nothing in response and instead turning to assist Ampharos in making sense of the other members' teasing before we could press her further. Leah and I shared an apprehensive glance, and made our way up to the third floor.

The room that we found ourselves in was circular and spacious like the main rooms in the previous two floors, except this room had no hallways extending from it. Instead, there was a large balcony to the right side with a large glass pane and a sliding glass door in place of where the wall would normally be. As far as the wall went, there was what looked like a star-patterned wallpaper covering the dome-shaped room rather than the painted wood and stone of the other floors.

An absolutely colossal telescope was placed on the wooden balcony, and upon further inspection, was supported with cables attached to the roof of the compound. I was reminded briefly of a worn-out telescope belonging to Hippopotas that Leah and I had tried to use one night in secret. But that puny thing hadn't been a tenth the size of the massive telescope on the balcony. I would definitely have to remind myself to come up here and try it out one night.

Despite being all but impossible to miss, the big telescope wasn't what caught my eye the most. That honor went to the generous augmentation of books boasting a myriad of shapes, sizes, and colors spanning most of the room. With the exception of a tidy little seating area with a glass table and a candle resting on top in the far-left area of the room, the entire wall was made up of bookshelves stacking up twelve-feet easily.

So was this be the library Ampharos had suggested I visit in case I ever found myself in Lively Town? With all of the getting into the Expedition Society business, which technically was still under way, I had totally forgotten about the other reason that I had wanted to come here. Mawile had just said that she was studying the history of the world, and if the Society had a selection of books this massive, then there was bound to be something here on humans. Perhaps I could even find something specifically on humans turning into Pokemon if I looked deep enough. I could still remember the silly storybook about a human who saved the whole world from the days when me and Leah were confined to the village school, so there must be something better here. It made sense.

With that thought came a strange feeling that caught me entirely off guard. It was incredibly subtle, so much so that I couldn't quite slap a name on it. But I could only best describe it as reluctance, which didn't make any sense whatsoever. I was a human who turned into a Snivy, so shouldn't I want to know more about why it happened and what can potentially be done to reverse it? This thought process was part of what had driven me to come here in the first place, and yet now that Leah and I had made it, it didn't sit rigjt anymore. And deep down, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was refusing to acknowledge why.

"Hey... you awake?"

Leah's soft voice startled me out of my thoughts, and for an instant I thought I was the one being spoken to. I looked and saw that she was actually all the way across the room near the back wall, poking at something yellow that was floating. It appeared to be the last member Mawile mentioned.

I walked over to find Leah jabbing the thing with one of her twigs unsuccessfully, the sleeping Pokemon not even twitching in response. It simply floated in midair only about a foot off the ground, with its star-shaped head facing the floor. Carefully with a vine I lifted its head up, to see that the odd yellow and gray Pokemon was indeed fast asleep, supported further by the deep steady breathing that could be heard that was in rhythm with the extension and retraction of its chest. I decided we were probably wasting time already, so it would be necessary to give intentionally waking him a shot.

"Hey," I said with a little extra volume, hoping this guy would be released from his slumber by the sound alone. "Ampharos asked us to wake you up. So... could you do us a favor and wake up? That would be great."

To my pioneered relief, he actually answered me in a masculine voice that sounded discreetly indifferent and almost child-like in tone.

"Ooh, is that true...?" he cooed. "I see... but I'm so sleepy though... I think I'll just continue sleeping..."

The Pokemon didn't once open his eyes or even hardly move his head when saying this. He was literally talking to us in his sleep.

Leah and I shared a look of absolute bewilderment.

"Uh, what? No, dude, you need to get up. It's kind of urgent," Leah impatiently insisted.

The strange floating Pokemon gave no reply whatsoever. In the following couple of minutes we found ourselves tickling him, trying to pull him to the ground, tugging on the green tags hanging off of his head, and several other unconventional methods of awakening that got us nowhere. I didn't want to attack the guy or anything, but we had basically run out of options at this point. Ampharos might start wondering what was taking us so long if we didn't wrap this up.

Unfortunately for us, we weren't really given much of a choice when the next thing he said registered.

"Sometimes when I'm asleep... I have a tendency to attack those around me... so... sorry if I do..."

"Wait, wh-"

I didn't have time to finish before I felt a sharp jolt of pain course through my body, which was followed by the unpleasant sensation of weightlessness. I hit the ground near the opposite wall, my tail thankfully cushioning most of the fall. Leah was totally caught off guard by the surprise psyshock attack, and was a moment too late in retaliating before she, too, was sent tumbling across the room.

She was on her feet and in a battle stance in an instant, facing our snoozing attacker. "What the hell! What's wrong with you?!"

"I don't think he can hear us," I grunted, some of the pain in my stiff leg being revived by the surprise-attack. "You still got those chesto berries?"

"I only have one left..." Leah answered a little reluctantly.

"Good! We can wake him up with it!"

"..."

I rolled my eyes. "Leah... seriously?"

"Can't we just knock him out instead?"

"He's already asleep!"

"...Fine," she huffed, before tossing me a single dark-blue berry. "But we're getting more."

I wasn't given time to answer her when I was forced to roll out of the way to avoid another psychic blast. It whizzed past my ear, skimming the very edge of the yellow growth that extended from my right shoulder.

"Leah!" I called to my partner as she leaped out of the way of another psyshock aimed at her, getting her attention momentarily. I tossed the berry back to her, and then unsheathed my vines. "Cover me so I can get in close. I'm gonna try and wrap him up so you can drop that berry down his throat." I glanced over in our opponent's direction and realized the amount of flammable material that was stacked behind him. "...and try sticking to just psybeam. We don't want to burn this place down on our first day."

"Understood," she confirmed, charging up and firing a psybeam that flew in a beeline aimed at the sleeping Pokemon. He didn't even try to move out of the way, begging the question if he was even capable of doing so in his lethargic state. The force spread inwards and pulsed when it hit his body, and only the hold on his dormant levitation prevented him from being launched into the bookshelf that was now only a few feet behind him.

"Ow... who did that...? I'm gonna get your ass back..."

Switching strategies, he began to spin around in place faster and faster in a lateral motion until he was a yellow blur. As I tried to move in closer, I saw him align his body to be parallel with the floor while still spinning at the same rapid pace. Through some unseen force likely related to his natural levitation, the star-shaped Pokemon catapulted forward at breakneck speed, forcing me and Leah to immediately hit the deck to narrowly avoid contact with the vicious double-edge attack. Not hitting either of his targets, the snoozing psychic-type flew across the room and slammed headfirst into the opposite wall with a resonant boom.

"Ow... my head... Did I hit anyone?"

"New plan!" I called to Leah, who still held the berry. She was now closer to our attacker, who had gotten the top of his head stuck in the wall and was too delirious to dislodge himself in a timely manner. Leah caught on and, already being only a dozen or so feet from him, dashed over and forced the chesto berry into his mouth. He ate it willingly, chewing on it for a moment and swallowing without any resistance.

This time, his acknowledging voice was thankfully accompanied by eyes blinking open, and preceded by a massive yawn.

After yawning and blinking away the morning residue, he smacked his lips a couple of times and looked around curiously. "Woah! Hey now! I just had the weirdest drea-" He cut himself off, the content of his laterally-angled surroundings having difficulty registering. By the way he had gotten himself stuck, he viewed us sideways, which I'd assume would a disorienting perspective for anyone to wake up to. This guy was no exception, trying to make the slightest sense of his surroundings by rapidly scanning the room as best he could. It only took him a couple of seconds to notice Leah and I staring back at him expectantly, standing before him on level ground. His pupils went wide after eyeing us for another couple of seconds.

"Okay, you two were definitely both just in my dream." Before elaborating further, he awkwardly wiggled his head until it popped out of the wall, leaving an oval-shaped hole in the wallpaper and plaster that was at least several inches in diameter. Floating again, he righted himself midair and shook his head twice to knock off the bits of dust that had collected there after his aimless collision. "So, are you two like, dream fairies or something? Because I'm one-hundred-percent sure you two were both clearly in the dream I was just having."

"Dream... fairies?" I said, a little perplexed by this strange Pokemon's attitude and choice of words. "No, we aren't fairies. We're new members of the Expedition Society, and we were sent up here to wake you up."

He blinked. "Oh. They willingly sent you up here knowing I was probably asleep?"

We nodded, provoking a playful smile from him. "Well, what do you know? You really are new recruits!" He extended two gray arms to us, taking Leah's paw in one and my arm in the other. "I'm Jirachi, born in Star Cave located deep in the Grass Continent. As you can see by the giant telescope outside, I'm the Society's official astronomer and engineer. And I maintain the library up here. And I'm the assistant historian behind Mawile. And I'm the Society's exclusive mythical Pokemon. And on top of all that, I make everyone's wishes come true... maybe." He added the last part with a wink, floating up into the air and doing a lazy lap around the room before resting on top of a bookshelf and looking down on us from above. "Fortunately I'm a certified genius, so these are merely simple tasks for me."

"It's nice to meet you Jirachi," I greeted politely. "I'm Sage, from Serene Village."

"And I'm Leah, also from Serene Village." The Fennekin bowed her head in greeting, and Jirachi floated down to shake our vines and paws, respectively.

"Say..." he said, eyeing us a bit suspiciously. "Aren't you two like a couple years too young to be pursuing this line of work?"

"Uh... I guess?" I answered with an air of neutrality. Leah just shrugged.

Jirachi scratched his chin for a moment, and the big smile returned. "Well, I guess you gotta start 'em early! Regardless of age, I wish you nothing but the best."

With introductions out of the way, he flew back over towards the back of the room, where he curled his yellow entrails around his body and shut his eyes. "I'm going back to sleep now. The chief is probably waiting for you two downstairs, so I'd go see him if I were you. Good night."

Just like that, he was fast asleep again, almost as if he'd never eaten the chesto berry. Leah and I cleared out of there in a heartbeat, with no intentions of involving ourselves in another heated conflict.

We arrived downstairs to find Ampharos and Mawile discussing something alone, the other members likely gone off to complete their daily jobs. The chief saw us on the way down the stairs and waved us over.

"Ah, Team Prism! Did you meet our fabled astronomer?"

Still uncertain if the whole 'being attacked by a sleeping mythical Pokemon' part of the introductions was arranged or not, I decided to hold my tongue and play it cool.

"Yeah. He's a cool guy." I answered simply.

Ampharos looked a bit puzzled when I said it, looking the two of us over and rubbing the orb on his forehead in concern. "Say... are you two alright? You're both sweating profusely, and you've got a couple of bruises that I'm fairly certain weren't present at morning announcements. It's as if you've just engaged in a pitched boss battle."

Mawile was unable to hide the beginnings of an amused smirk, confirming that our enthralling encounter with Jirachi was probably orchestrated to some degree.

"N-no, we're fine," Leah covered for us. "We're ready for our first official assignment."

"Wonderful!" Ampharos clapped his hands together and then pointed towards the door to the outside. "Today, check out some of the local jobs around town, or use your connection orb to help someone in need. I'm sure you'll find plenty to choose from compared to the humble location you were operating from before."

"And here," Mawile interrupted him, grabbing something out of the dark green book bag she was carrying. She handed me five large gold coins, totaling 500 Poké. "We heard about all of the money you spent on food last night, so this here should help you purchase supplies for the day."

"Oh, thank you." I answered, inwardly relieved that we wouldn't have to waste time scavenging. I took the money and pocketed it into the brand new bag that Ampharos had given us. We thanked her once again, and then headed out the doors to buy some food and healing items for whatever it was we'd be doing today.

* * *

Our first day had been nothing but exhausting from start to finish. I had initially been thankful that Ampharos had delegated us to do local jobs on the connection orb, hoping we could pick an easy one and coast a little bit. I _might've_ been more energized for our first day had we not had to deal with a certain mythical Pokemon tossing around in his sleep, which had indeed given me a few bruises that made my joints stiffen up almost immediately following the bizarre attack.

Leah and I had had chosen a mission that involved rescuing a lost Dragonair from a mountain not far from Gentle Slope Cave, which would've been a relatively simple mission had we not been ambushed by a monster house right when we got there. My ankle had been getting better as the day had gone on, only for the pain to be rejuvenated by the intense fight. We did end up getting the frightened client back to her family before the sun began to set, but it was a wild ride getting there that, directly following two straight days of hiking through the mountains, had left me totally bushed. I guessed that was just the lifestyle that I've now chosen showing its true colors, and I assumed that this kind of rush would become commonplace for me. I was a bit overwhelmed by the initial thought of it, but I had to admit it was worth every second of pain and fatigue. Perhaps I would even go out on a whim and admit it was pretty fun putting in all that work and being able to call it a successful day at our new 'career'. Leah certainly seemed to think so, leaping up and down in triumph when we completed the mission in complete disregard to how draining it had been. She was probably off telling Dedenne and Vulpix about it right now, who I'd seen her locked in conversation with earlier.

I'd have been conversing with some of the other members along with her if I didn't have something specific that I needed to look into. Today during the mission, I was hit by a sand-attack from a Pidgeotto in the monster house, and that weird phenomenon happened again where the intended effect would be reversed. I had totally forgotten about it with the drama about leaving Serene Village, and abruptly reminded when it happened again today.

Following our return, I seeked out Mawile intending to learn about what was going on, who was busy with something urgent and politely referenced that I ask Jirachi. I went up to the observatory-library and, thankfully, found him wide awake. He was organizing one of the shelves towards the back when I approached.

"Hey, Jirachi?"

He turned his head at the sound my voice, and continued levitating books into place behind him while looking at me. "What's up greenie? If you wanted to try out the telescope, you'll have to come back another evening. It's too cloudy tonight."

I shook my head. "Thanks, I'll definitely have to try that. But that's not why I'm here, I actually need to research something."

Jirachi raised his eyebrows. "What do you need?" He made a sweeping gesture pointed at all of the bookshelves bordering the walls with his arm. "Whatever it is, it's probably up here."

I rubbed my chin, trying to figure out a good way to explain the strange occurrences that wouldn't stop happening to me. "Is there any reported cases you might know of where a status change is... reversed?"

"Reversed, huh?" he echoed with his head tilted.

"Yeah, like, the opposite effect intended is what occurs."

"Can you give an example?"

"Today I got hit by a sand-attack, and my accuracy went up, not down. This kind of thing has happened to me a number of times before... Is this normal?"

Jirachi paused to contemplate the anomaly that I had explained. After a few seconds, his eyes lit up in what appeared to me like understanding, and he flew over to a shelf across the room and began searching for something.

"It should be around here somewhere..." he mused. "Ah! Here it is!" He grabbed a moderately-sized red book from the top of the shelf, and flew over to me with it in tow. He handed it to me and made his back over to where he had been organizing before, giving instructions as he flew. "What you're looking for should be explained somewhere in there, so make sure to read it when you get a chance."

My eyes lit up. "Wait- really? Th-Thank you!"

 _Finally! At least one mystery will be brought to light._

He smiled, genuinely pleased with the interest being taken in his collection of literature. "It's truly a pleasure! Most of the time the other members are up here looking for texts and illustrations about mapmaking and medicine, so it's nice to see some of this other stuff get put to use and not continue collecting all this dust. Feel free to come up here whenever you like and look around, these books are for everyone." His face grew slightly serious. "-Just don't damage whatever you decide to use, especially books involving history, or else Mawile will find out and absolutely tear you a new one."

 _Duly noted._

I held the book up in front of me with my vines and read the front cover. It was titled "Pokemon Abilities - An Elaborate Report", and by looking at the side, I could tell it had at least several hundred pages. I'd have to make sure to skim through it as soon as I got the chance.

"Thanks again," I said while still looking at the cover. "Hey, Swirlix said dinner should be ready any minute, so you should probab-" I stopped myself when I heard a faint snore from across the room. I had turned my back for ten seconds and just like that, Jirachi was fast asleep.

"-or not."

I hurried down the stairs before a repeat of this morning could play out, which as drained as I was, surely wouldn't have ended well for me. On the way down I heard Swirlix's call to dinner, making me redouble my efforts to ensure that I would claim my fair share of food before the hoggish chef got impatient. Being my first day, I hadn't really had a chance to experience my serving of food being eaten by the steward firsthand, but I had heard plenty of stories about this kind of thing from Bunnelby to decide not to give the fairy-type the benefit of the doubt.

At dinner, I made it a priority to become further acquainted with the rest of the members. Leah had gotten a bit of a head start on me, already hitting it off with that ice-type Vulpix and that Helioptile. I talked a bit with everyone, exchanging stories and jokes with increasing complacency as the orange light filtering through the window transitioned to blackness. I had worried that I might end up becoming something along the lines of a social outlier, as I was still getting immersed with the whole 'professional explorer' concept. But as it turned out, they were all pretty easy to get along with. They all had their own unique characteristics, like Ampharos's backwards sense of direction and Mincinno'a undying work ethic. Some of these characteristics held a bit more dead weight than others, but they gave the group a sense of balanced diversity and composure.

Leah was already fitting right in with the energetic members, from what I saw consisted of Helioptile, Dedenne, Buizel, Vulpix, Comfey, and Swirlix. They were a curious group that dominated dinnertime's tenor, making a small ruckus and occasionally talking and laughing with their mouths full.

I fit in more with the group of cool and collected members who talked less and observed more, that being Mincinno, Brionne, Mawile, and to an extent, Bunnelby and Archen. We made jokes and laughed too, but there was an air of maturity that came with it. From what I could tell, this gained me respect right away, as it's likely they had expected the youthful rookies to lack sufficiently in the self-control department. I utilized this hour of dinnertime to get to know them better than the brief morning introductions had allowed, and they did the same with me.

My heart leaped when Mawile told me that she was extensively studying the history of human influence on this world, which was apparently a distant topic that was often criticized as a waste of time. How badly I wanted to present my own case of human origin to whoever these critics were, and request that they rethink their scrutiny.

In any case, I was elated. This meant that I finally had another lead, finally had another opportunity to discover what happened to me and why. And this one didn't involve being attacked by three psychos.

My new coworkers all gave me the inherent accounts of how they had come to join the Society. I noticed right away an intriguing parallel with their stories; one that was also shared with that of Leah and I. With the exception of Mawile, who had apparently known Ampharos since childhood, everyone's debut interaction with the Expedition Society had involved some kind of chance encounter with Ampharos, who would always decide to make the individual or group in question into official members as a decision in direct opposition to what would be expected. From hearing some of their accounts, you'd think Ampharos was picking his menials at random, just as it seemed he was doing for Leah and I, who were supposedly too young because of some rule that now no longer existed.

By looking around at these Pokemon, however, not a shred of incompetency was to be found. Nobody would look at this and think that anyone here was chosen at random because of some unforeseen reason that only the chief could make sense of. It didn't take long to realize that, despite a bit of rust in differing regards to the average member's qualifications, everyone had their own collection of traits that rounded out the Society and gave it depth of both character and capability.

I recalled how Ampharos had not publicly praised Leah and I even one time for any of our accomplishments. Instead, he make sure to draw attention to what he worded as "the qualities necessary to become outstanding explorers". That guy may trip over himself wherever he goes, but his mind must be in the right place to put together something like this with nothing but sharp eyes and a gut-feeling. Even in Serene Village, on that day when Leah and I had to help him up off the ground after he walked face-first into the outside wall of the cafe, he had maintained a watchful eye.

My aching body didn't give me any time to think about it much longer, as it decided to tune down as the night lingered on. The digestion of what was an incredible dinner served only to make me desire sleep even more, and I wasn't too intent on denying it for long. Leah beat me to the punch, actually, and was already fast asleep on her feather bed when I reached our room. I should've guessed the delirious rush of our first official day at the Expedition Society would tucker her out too.

I had intended on skimming through that book tonight, but I lazily dropped it onto the desk and plopped down on my bed instead. I'd do it tomorrow. Or the next day.

No dreams or thoughts would poke at my mind as a relaxing sleep overcame me just as quickly as it did my partner. Things were looking up finally, and I was already settling in nicely.


	22. The Tempest's Token

Chapter 22 - The Tempest's Token

"You twisted this pretty bad. Thankfully, you didn't manage to seriously damage the muscle."

Brionne was wrapping my sore leg up with a cloth coated in lotion curated from what looked like oran berry juice. When we had finished with morning announcements, Mawile had suggested that I get it checked out with the Society medical staff, that being Comfey and her assistant Brionne, to make sure it was healing right. Comfey took off following the conclusion of breakfast, doing cartwheels as she levitated all through the halls until finally barreling through the front doors on some kind of errand. That left the shy water-type nurse to tend to my medical needs.

"So what are the Alolan Isles like?" I inquired as soon as she finished applying another dab of poultice to the surface of my foot.

She looked up, almost as if she wasn't sure she was the one being spoken to. "O-oh, well... it's all really sunny. There are plenty of beaches and coastal Pokemon."

I nodded my head, and reminded myself to find the place on a map later. It sounded like an ideal spot to take a satisfying beach vacation... which made me wonder, do we get vacations at the Expedition Society? I'd have to ask Ampharos or Mawile later.

Another question arose from her answer, and I vocalized it to pique my curiosity. "If it's so tropical, then where did Vulpix come from? Isn't she an ice-type?"

Brionne went to grab something from a cabinet, and nodded her head in the affirmative as she made her way back over to me with some kind of bottle. "Yes, she is. There is actually a volcano on the northeastern island that sticks high enough into the air where snow can sometimes fall during the winter. A tribe of ground and fire type Pokemon used to live there for the heat of the molten rock, but in recent generations it had cooled significantly, forming a frozen environment in the colder months. They apparently adapted to the shift in ecology rather than leaving their home, and it changed their genetic code in a dramatic design similar to that of evolution. The Vulpix here descends from this group, and thus is an ice-type rather than a fire-type."

I raised my eyebrows at her and raised my head back. "Damn," I said in a complimentary tone. "You seem to know your stuff."

She rubbed the back of her head and smiled bashfully. "Y-yeah, I studied a lot about the lore of the islands in my free time." She applied the paste-like substance from the bottle to a fresh wrap of a soft, white dressing. "Then I met Comfey, and then eventually Vulpix and then Ampharos and Mawile. Mawile was hurt, so we all helped treat her wounds, and then he accepted us into the Expedition Society. It's worked out pretty well since then."

She finished delicately wrapping three layers of a paper-thin thread around my foot. As a Snivy, my arms and legs weren't impressively long, so even a small roll of the bandage covered my entire leg. I moved it on a swivel experimentally, and concluded that walking wouldn't be too tedious with the extra wrapping.

"Thanks, Brionne," I said with a parting smile and wave, before making my way out the door of the infirmary and down to the first floor.

Leah was chatting with Bunnelby over by the wall about something involving hats, when I walked over and made my presence known.

"Hi Sage," Bunnelby greeted. "What happened to your leg?"

"Bad encounter with an Onix," I answered simply.

He nodded his head knowingly and didn't press further. As the Society's excavation-specialist, I could imagine he had experienced relatively similar confrontations.

"So," I began, clapping my hands together. "Are we going exploring together today?"

Bunnelby sighed and shook his head no. "As much as I'd love to see what y'all are made of, I've got a mining project over at Showdown Mountain that won't be finished for another couple of weeks." He rubbed the back of his head, and benignantly added, "I don't think that's something you two would be all that interested in. It's not a very exciting job, if you ask me."

I acknowledged him in vivid agreement. I wasn't intimately interested in involving myself in that kind of mission, one that surely entailed plenty of dirt and grime burrowing into the earth. I'd never considered myself the pickiest of grass-types, but that's something I'd rather pass on anyway.

"Well, I've gotta head out. Maybe some other time!" He waved to us and was on his way out the door, his pack of tools bumping into his thigh with each step.

"Hm. Guess it's just us today," Leah observed, sounding wistful. "Maybe we can see if there are any local jobs to do that'll pass the time."

I already had the connection orb in my hands, and was in the middle of inserting it into the gadget when I heard a voice from across the room that was directed at us.

"Actually, we'd like the help of you two today, if you don't mind." The voice belonged to Mincinno, and I turned around to see him approaching us. He was accompanied by Vulpix and Helioptile, the former still adjusting to waking up and the latter already wagging his tail with energy.

"Alola Team Prism," Vulpix greeted the two of us, a ragged yawn highlighting her soft voice. "How are you enjoying the Society so far?"

"It's amazing!" Leah expressed her joy forthright. "It's a dream come true!"

I shadowed her enthusiasm with a more diplomatic response. "Yes, we've been treated well." I glanced at Leah, who smiled at me warmly, before looking back at Mincinno and continuing. "We've always wanted to do this, so it means a lot to finally be here."

"Aye, good to hear!" Helioptile said.

"Yeah, it's nice to be able to make a difference in this world, ain't it?" Mincinno said with a respectful nod. He pulled out his gadget and glanced at something before putting it right back into his bag and briefly sizing the two of us up. "Anyway, yeah. We're off on a mission to the Golden Prairie, an area nearby that's just off the coastline. Apparently some Pokemon have been acting weird over there lately, so Ampharos wanted a group of four or five to check it out. You two up for the task?"

"Perfect!" I answered immediately. "This sounds a lot more exciting than what Bunnelby's doing."

"No kidding," Leah agreed. She had her own gadget out now, Ampharos having distributed us a second one so that we could each have one for communication purposes. She booted up the map feature, which only took a couple of seconds thanks to our convenient location in the middle of Lively Town. From Jirachi I had learned that the cellular features of the gadget were processed by linking a signal with the Nexus Atlas upstairs, which was that giant holographic globe in the middle of the central room on the second story. It made sense then, that we'd have had a bad signal in Serene Village, being relatively far away. Sure, back then we'd had our own map saved onto the gadget, but we couldn't connect and see the entire Water Continent, which would've been much more practical for our journey through the Sheer Mountain Range.

"Lemme see..." She was searching through the glossary for the location that Mincinno had just mentioned, leaning her shoulder against the wall to allow both front paws to be used. "Not there, not there... ah! Here it is!" She jabbed her paw on the screen at a beach not terribly far from Lively Town, and I tapped my hand on her paw in what had become a trademark reminder that the touch screen was sensitive and she didn't have to jab it so hard.

Mincinno looked over Leah's shoulder at the location on the screen. "Yep, that's the spot," he confirmed with us as he motioned toward the door. "We've already packed plenty of food and supplies, so if y'all are ready, we're heading out. Keep in mind that, at best, we'll be gone all day."

"Alright, we just need to go get a few things from the deposit box and then we'll be ready." I said.

"Cool," Mincinno replied as he led his team out the front door. "We'll be waiting by the docks. Try not to take too long."

With that, they were out the door and on their way to the docks. Leah placed her gadget away into our bag that was slung around my shoulder, and we both made our way into town as well.

As we walked into the town square, Leah began recounting to me some of the things she'd learned from some the Society members that she'd gotten a chance to talk to more than I had, like Dedenne and Comfey.

"Dedenne told me that she can transmit signals to the members' gadgets through her whiskers that can go way farther than the gadget can go!"

My eyebrows raised curiously at that. "Then why don't we just use Dedenne to talk long-distance instead? Couldn't she just relay everything to anyone who needs information?"

"That's what I said," she continued. "She said it really tires her out when she does communicate that way, so she only does it when there's bad weather or something interfering with the gadget's signal. It makes sense, I gue- oof!" Leah wasn't paying attention and characteristically ran smack into the back of another Pokemon.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" I heard a gruff voice grumble.

After momentarily helping my partner up off the ground, I looked up to see who she'd run into with an apology already prepared, and paled. I hadn't even been awake for an hour, and there was already an unexpected nuisance to be dealt with, this time before Leah and I even got a chance to leave town on our mission.

It was that damn Krokorok that had been terrorizing that child not even forty-eight hours ago. My blood ran cold when I realized it was the same Pokemon, assuming he would recognize us and instigate a fight. But when he turned around and glowered over us, there was merely mild annoyance where I feared would be heated retrospect. I must have gotten us out of that alley just in time for him not to see us.

"Well?" he bellowed. "Don't just stand there and gawk. Say somethin'!" Every word that came out of his mouth was accompanied by a perceivable effort to flex his chest and arms, which came off a bit offsetting considering his rickety frame. Leah and I were both the opposite of impressed.

"Uh, sorry about that..." Leah mumbled, trying hard not to let her anger show. From the aggressive undertone her voice carried, she clearly recognized him just as well as I had.

Krokorok looked around, and noticed that the square still hadn't filled up to its usual crowded capacity yet, before looking back at us with a newfound grin that didn't promise good intentions. "Aye, you two. You're kids, right?" He sized us up, and rubbed the bottom of his grinning snout. "Yeah, yeah, you two are definitely just kids. Sweet, this is just what I needed..."

Leah and I shared a knowing look. Was this crook seriously going to try the same thing he had tried the other day on that Treecko?

"You two. Listen. You got any Poké that you could share with a poor soul like me?"

Wow. It occurred to me that it probably would've been smarter to just turn him in to the law enforcement rather than take off like we had, so that he wouldn't be able to continue with his low-life antics. Then again, taking off and helping with Swirlix's gluttony problems is what got us aquatinted with the Expedition Society, so I guess it worked out. But still, had this guy really just gone right back to terrorizing anyone he could pick on even after our unplanned ambush? Here he was, trying to pull the same stunt on us, not even two days after we had gone and, quoting Mincinno, 'knocked him on his ass'. For god's sake, he still had a burn mark remaining on his forehead from when Leah blasted him from the edge of the alleyway.

"Not a chance," I replied with a glare. I grabbed Leah's paw to lead her away when the Krokorok stepped in to block our path.

"Come on," he insisted, returning the glare but maintaining his grin. "You two look like generous Pokemon. I'm sure you can spare a few coins, if you're catching my drift."

"Catch this," Leah sneered, flames spawning in her throat.

I'd been fighting by her side long enough now to know exactly when and how she was attacking based upon her body language, and I placed myself in position to follow up on her ember attack with a vine whip to our opponent's legs, the same tactic we'd used against him not two days ago. It had become a favorite combo of ours back in Serene Village, and still was.

But this time, a voice from the northern gate called over to us in an authoritative tone, and Leah ceased her fire a split second before she would've released it.

"What's going on here?" Buizel demanded. He stalked over to the three of us, giving Krokorok a death stare while he approached. "You'd better not be trying to extort our newest recruits, Krokorok."

"Newest... recruits?" Krokorok repeated in awe. He looked at the two of us again, and fear sparked in his eyes when he noticed the official badges we wore on our chests. He threw his hands up palms-out to downplay the situation. "N-no way! Not me! I was just having a friendly chat with my friends here!" He nervously turned to us and smiled big, this time without any traces of the arrogant grin from before. "It's all good in the hood, right friends?"

Buizel gauged him with a mixture of contempt and forced pity. "Somehow I doubt that. I'd strongly suggest you keep your distance, unless you want to be hearing from me."

Krokorok seemed unsure how to respond, and was about to just acquiesce and scurry off when another Pokemon lumbered his way over to us. While this Pokemon resembled Korokorok in design, his bulky stature bore no relation to that slim frame. The stranger's muscles were more developed, and his scales were a menacing shade of dark red as opposed to the desert tan that tattered Krokorok. His claws were what stood out most, being several inches long and thick enough to rip apart whatever he pleased.

"What's going on here?" the big red Pokemon bellowed in a deep raggedy voice. He eyes us all impatiently, and subconsciously contracted his claws in and out of his palms.

"O-oh, mister Krookodile! You arrived just in time!" Krokorok was at his side right away, and the confidence that Buizel's arrival had drained from him had suddenly returned twofold. He shoved a finger in our direction and put on the best sorry-face he could muster. "Those three were over here bullying me for no good reason at all!"

"Oh, they were, were they?" Krookodile grunted, sounding somewhere between annoyed and angry.

"What?!" I exclaimed. "That's bullshit!"

Krokorok ignored me entirely. "Bullying others is just downright wrong. Ain't that right mister Krookodile?"

Krookodile sneered at us. "You two punks from the Expedition Society?" He directed his question at Leah and I. Buizel was standing between us, and took a step forward.

"Yes," Buizel answered for us. "They are our newe-"

"Quiet, wretch!" Krookodile boomed, taking a step forward as well. "I wasn't askin' the likes o' you, bloody orphan!"

"What did you say?" Buizel spat back.

He looked ready to burst, so I jumped in before things could escalate any further. "Chill out, chill out!" I exclaimed, one vine holding Buizel back while the other pushed Krookodile back. "We don't want any trouble! Back down!"

Krookodile shifted his glare from Buizel to me, and did not let up on its intensity. After a few moments of stark consideration, he shoved the vine off his chest and grunted.

"What a bunch of garbage. I could wipe the floor with the lot of you... Come on, runt!" he ordered his underling, who quickly fell at his side as he began to stalk away. He turned his head halfway, and narrowed his eyes at us, giving one final parting warning. "I'd suggest you don't test the limits of my patience. Cross my gang again and you will live to regret it."

Krokorok was downright gleeful the entire time, and when his boss wasn't looking, turned his head back and stuck his tongue out at us. Even when the were no longer in sight, Buizel was still fuming. "That little... ugh!" He shook his head and looked at Leah and I, who were looking back at him with some concern. He rubbed the back of his head apologetically. "Sorry about that. In case you couldn't tell, Krookodile there isn't on the best terms with me, or anyone in the Expedition Society for that matter."

"No need to be sorry," Leah said. "You saved us from having to deal with those two alone, so thank you."

"What'd he say about his 'gang'?" I asked him, making him huff and shake his head again.

"He was talking about the local mafia, or at least, that what they refer to themselves as. They're basically just a group of thugs and low-lifers who kiss the ground Krookodile walks on. Most of them aren't anything to worry about, but Krookodile there... he's a different story. He's the worst thing to ever happen to Lively Town, and he's strong to boot. Stay clear of him if you can."

"Understood. Thanks Buizel!"

He nodded. "No problem. I gotta go now, I'll catch you two at dinner." He walked off toward the cafe, and left us standing in the plaza.

Leah looked at me and blinked. "Well," she said. "That was interesting."

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "Yeah, let's just move on. This is all too much nonsense for this early in the morning."

She raised an eyebrow, and glanced up at the sky before tilting her head at me. "Sage, it's only a couple hours before noon."

"Yeah," I replied dryly. "That's still too early to be getting involved in all this drama. Maybe not for someone like you, but for me it's a different story."

"You're just not a morning person," she countered, sticking out her tongue.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, I guess that's true."

"Anyway," Leah continued, trying to keep us focused. "Mincinno said to meet his team by the docks down by the beach down that path." She pointed to the eastern gate that led down to the beach. Built above the beach at a higher elevation, I could see wooden docks off to the side, where a couple of trading vessels were anchored to the harbor. I didn't have a good view of it even from this edge of the square, but I could still see the tops of them well enough to decipher the vehicles as sailing vessels.

I went over to the deposit box and took out a couple of reviver seeds, heal seeds, and about six big apples for us to munch on along the way. We were supposed to be gone all day, if not stay overnight, so I figured that this would have to suffice. If not, we could always find more.

After reevaluating that we had everything we needed, we set off towards the docks.

A set of wooden stairs led down the hillside and down to the coast, where it merged with the sand. Leah and I didn't take this path however, instead heading to the right where the wooden planks took us to a larger platform curving above the sand below and just on the outline of town. Various merchants had their shops set up here on the right side of the port, which was bordering the small hill that Lively Town sat upon that stretched above where the ocean met the land. On the left side of the wooden docks was a set of railing that some Pokemon leaned on and engaged in conversation, while other areas had no railing to make way for the actual ship docks, where a vessel could pull in and anchor down.

Helioptile saw us before we saw them, and over by the railing he hailed the two of us down. We swiftly jogged our way over to the trio, who were all waiting for us.

"What took you so long?" Mincinno pestered, not looking all too pleased by the wait.

"Sorry," Leah casually apologized as she caught her breath. "We got caught up dealing with some crook named Krookodile, and Buizel had to help bail us out."

Mincinno's eyes widened. "Krookodile? Damn, you two may have shown a lot of potential already, but taking him on isn't something I'd recommend doing right away. That's why I keep saying to everyone that we need to throw that guy in jail."

Vulpix rolled her eyes. "We can't just throw him in jail, he already served his time for the last crime he was arrested for."

"Now, we get to wait for him to commit another one," Helioptile added neutrally.

"That's basically the gist of it. So much for protecting the town, right?" Mincinno said with a scowl.

Vulpix punched him on the shoulder. "Oh, hush," she chided. "Don't be so negative. If he acts up again, we'll be there to stop him." Before Mincinno had a chance to reply, Vulpix changed the subject. "So, this mission... Shouldn't we get going?"

"Yes," I agreed. "We're ready when you guys are."

Mincinno glanced around and nodded. "Alright, no point in wasting any more time," he said. He pulled out his gadget and brought up the map, where he put a marker on our destination and another marker on our current location. "Since it's so close to the coastline, the fastest way is gonna probably be this." He zoomed in and drew a line with his paw, which outlined the coast before jutting inland once it became parallel with our destination. "On this prairie is a large hill with a cave. By the hill is a village, which is where we were asked to investigate."

He shut down the electronic device and tossed it into his loose-hanging bag, and then motioned for us to follow him. Our group of five walked through the docks, and Leah and I got a chance to observed more of the construction that had been done. Crates and barrels of goods were lying everywhere, and some parts of the elevated area still looked undeveloped. In a few years, this would probably became a booming marketplace, but for now it was mostly lonely, with only a few small stands scattered by the townside selling drinks or fruit. Mincinno had no interest in stopping for anything, but finally consented upon Vulpix's and Leah's pleading. Mincinno's team bought themselves drinks, and I purchased a couple for Leah and I as well. It was so much more convenient than dipping my long nose into the stream at Serene Village to get a drink, where here I could get a throwaway cup holding a tasty liquid that saturated my thirst almost as effectively as water. With the sun beating down on us as it had been all summer long, it was nice to be refreshed like this every now and then.

We didn't dawdle for long, and by the time noon came about, we were already making our way across the edge of the coast. It was a pretty boring walk, and I found myself lost in thought most of the time. There wasn't that much to see out here on the unexplored beach, and it was relatively uncomfortable considering the sand that scratched at our feet and got stuck in-between toes and nestled within fur. Even though Mincinno had displayed how this was the fastest route, it still felt incredibly slow-moving, and it all collectively got old after a couple hours. Even the scent of salt on the wind was starting to annoy me by the time noon was well behind us. We all engaged in simple conversation at first, but after a while we just settled into walking the walk and becoming engrossed in our own half-awake cognition for a majority of the time. I got so lost in idle thought at one point, after a few hours had passed, that I hardly noticed I was being spoken to.

"Hey, Sage?" The voice had belonged to Vulpix, who was currently walking alongside me.

"Hm?" I transiently shed the insignificant daydream I had been locked in and addressed the ice-type. "Oh, sorry... I'm kinda half-awake over here."

"Yeah, same," she remarked with a wayward glance at the ocean down to our distant left.

Now that I was back to paying attention, I could see that Mincinno and Helioptile were engaged in some sort of immaterial discussion. Leah had pitched herself in as well, leaving just Vulpix and I walking in silence, which I guess she had finally decided to break in order to ward away the incessant boredom of this long hike.

"So," she continued, her subtle tropical accent keeping the idle conversation alive. "What was it like living so far into the mainland?" She added with a soft chuckle, "I've never really lived far from the ocean, so I've always wondered about how other Pokemon do."

This was a question I had been hoping to avoid. This was all so shifty, not disclosing the truth of my story to the rest of the Expedition Society despite now being official members. I hated to lie and say I'd actually grown up in Serene Village, but right now, that's what I had to stick with. Still, it scared me knowing that someone would probably find out eventually, and I'd essentially be put in a checkmate that even now I had no way out of. Not to mention that I really just didn't want to think about that place in general, let alone discuss it with someone, in fear of being overridden by the remaining guilt.

Regardless, I couldn't just leave Vulpix out to dry. I swallowed and formulated a basic, fundamental description that held back on the personal details enough to not be considered lying, at least not in the form of directly giving misinformation. It's what I had been doing thus far anyway.

"Well, let me think..." I began while rubbing my chin and looking up at the afternoon sky thoughtfully. "Compared to Lively Town, living out there was much more... more simplified."

"Simplified?" she pressed curiously at my choice of words, tilting her head sideways as she walked.

"Yeah. There wasn't as much color, or as many sounds and shapes and stuff like Lively Town. There wasn't any many Pokemon, or as many shops, or the same variety of food, or anything. It was slower moving and, well, simple. Everything was static and predictable." I paused, then added, "It was much greener, though. And even though Lively Town has some nice views, Serene Village had its fair share of sights to see as well."

Vulpix was intrigued by my unadorned description of where I had come from, and pressed onward. "Interesting! Did you like it there?"

I paused in thought, and almost paused in step as well. I didn't miss a beat for the sake of remaining inconspicuous, but I still felt the full weight of the question threaten to trip me up. "Y-yeah," I answered, a bit too quickly in an effort to not sound hesitant. "Yeah, I loved it there. I made a lot of good friends back at Serene Village. Friends and... family."

She seemed to sense my melancholy from touching on the subject. Nodding her head knowingly, she brushed a tuft of head-fur off her eyes and sighed. "I know what you mean," she replied with sympathy swimming in her tone. "I left my family behind to come join the Expedition Society too. It's hard with them being halfway across the world all the time, but... you find ways to get used to it. As long as they know you're off making the world a better place, you can always be satisfied you're doing the right thing knowing they're cheering for you."

I felt like laughing at just how poorly that fit my description.

I didn't exactly have a family, and the few friends I did have probably wouldn't vouch that I was "making the world a better place" at the moment. I left them all against their collective wishes in the middle of the night without a word, for god's sake. I highly doubt any of them, whether it be Espurr or Nuzleaf or a pick of the villagers, are cheering for me at this point. They probably just think I'm a rebellious idiot who wasn't willing to face the Beeheyem straight up, or in the case of the uninformed majority of villagers, that I'm a rebellious idiot with no regard for authority or the limits of my capabilities.

I didn't say any of this out loud, of course, if not to avoid giving too much information than to simply avoid being rude. But the thought was ever-present, and it still hurt just like it did on the journey through the mountains. And if I was being honest with myself, it would probably hurt that way for a long time. That was exactly why it was better left ignored.

It just made me so agitated that this kind of burden was being forced on me by some unknown force that still refused to reveal itself. Not for the first time, and surely not for the last, I demanded in my head to know why such a difficult decision had been placed on my unfamiliar shoulders. It was one thing to be swept into another world and turned into a Pokemon, but all of this drama and conflict with no answers packaged with it had became ridiculous to the point where it all seemed unnecessary. It all seriously didn't even seem real anymore. I guess not having a single answer to your problems tended to do this kind of thing to your mentality.

Regardless, I couldn't have brought myself to resent Vulpix for her unintentional words of detriment even if I tried. I may not be all too enthusiastic about that particular topic these days, but I certainly wasn't depressed to the point of irrationality. She was innocently trying to spark a conversation and lift me up about something that had me down, which I apparently wasn't doing a good job of hiding. I'd at least try to put on a smile and illustrate gratitude, even if it was all artificial.

"Yeah, that's what keeps me going a lot of the time," I lied. "It's... nice to know that you have family far away who are wishing you success, you know?"

"Hmm," she hummed in agreement.

"Hey, you two!" we heard Mincinno call from up front. "Pick up the pace!" Vulpix and I had fallen about a dozen steps behind, and we hurried to catch up.

"Don't mind him," she giggled as we jogged forward. "He's actually a pretty cool guy most of the time. Things have just been stressful lately, that's all."

"Stressful? How so?"

Vulpix shook her head slightly, and adopted a look of mild uncertainty. She glanced around, as if to make sure nobody was listening, and then looked sideways at me as we jogged along. "Have you ever heard of a Pokemon turning to stone?" she asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "I remember reading an article about it in the newspaper. Is it true?"

"Well..." Vulpix trailed off and sighed. "That's what we've heard. Ampharos and Mawile are the only ones in the Expedition Society who have actually seen the remains of a Pokemon turned to stone, but neither of them really like to talk about it much."

"So it is true, then?" I urged.

She answered my question with an earnest nod. After a couple seconds of silence, she elaborated further. "They saw it firsthand, and from their observations Project Chisel was inspired."

"Project Chisel?"

"Mm hmm," she verified. "Project Chisel is an operation with two end goals, the first involving uncovering information about the culprit, or culprits, and doing what can be done to stop them. The second objective, which is a higher priority, is to find a cure for those already turned to stone."

"Wow..." I murmured. "How much progress has been made?"

Vulpix shook her head. "I wouldn't know much about it. Ampharos says that until he makes a significant breakthrough, he doesn't plan on involving the rest of us if he can help it, for safety reasons." She paused for a moment, and shivered. "I'm not complaining, though. I know I don't want to be turned into stone."

The thought sent a shiver down my back as well. The concept of being turned to stone... It just didn't sit right with me. Even thinking about it gave me this ominous sensation of foreboding similar to how I felt that day in Serene Village when I first read about it.

"Me neither," I concurred. "How long has it been happening?"

"Something like two... more like three months now?"

I was silent for a moment, before an impertinent intuition invaded my thoughts and made me pause.

 _What if Pokemon turning to stone and me becoming a Snivy is connected somehow?_

It sounded stupid as soon as it entered my head, but I explored the idea anyway. I'd been in this world for approximately three months now, which, if Vulpix could be considered a liable source, lined up seamlessly with when Pokemon apparently started being turned to stone. A human being turned into a Pokemon and coming to this world was something that was only recorded in fairy tales, and Pokemon being turned to stone, by the sound of it, was something that nobody had even dreamed could pose an issue. What's more interesting, I found, was that joining the Expedition Society with Leah put me right in the midst of an investigation into this mystery. As paranoid as you have to be when you're in a foreign world surrounded by the unknown, I could be fairly certain this was not just me overthinking things. Maybe it would be better if I disclosed my human origin to the rest of the Society after all, so I could seek help connecting these dots. I figured I should at least tell Mawile at some point, since she's the historian who I'd probably just end up getting referred to anyway. I'd have to consult Leah about it sometime soon.

At least if I truly am related to what that newspaper described, in whatever crazy way, then I could perhaps find consolation in knowing I kept that kind of danger away from Serene Village with my hastened exit. The Expedition Society, on the other hand, allowed me to establish myself and fight whatever it was that had it out for me. It was a chance to find a new start, or to put in better words, a new hope. Here I could enjoy the everyday life of being an explorer, exploration with Leah being the one thing that really did keep me going rather than some family that I might or might not have had back in some other world. And there was always the increased potential to learn something about what happened to me, which gave this new frontier that much more purpose.

I could only hope these two enterprises didn't end up controverting each other. There was more than likely a human world that existed somewhere, one that I had presumably originated from. Part of me wanted to go back to that world, and perhaps make sense of everything once and for all. But another part of me wanted to stay, and develop my life here. I wasn't really sure why, either, and it really bugged me. This was nothing new of course; I still hardly knew anything about... anything. How much have I truly learned since the moment I woke in the forest and came to the conclusion that I had lost next to all of my memories? Maybe that was why I didn't want to leave all of the sudden; because I haven't learned anything yet.

I was snapped out of my thoughts momentarily by the sound of laughter. Ahead of me I saw Helioptile crack some kind of joke, and Mincinno shaking his head and holding down a smile in order to maintain his strict demeanor. Leah laughed loudly at whatever it was, which is what had caught my attention. I found myself staring at her for a moment longer than usual, subconsciously feeling at the cloth around my neck.

 _Or maybe there's a different reason I'm so hesitant to leave...?_

"Alright gang!" Mincinno announced suddenly, halting in his tracks and gathering everyone's attention. He pointed to a break in the hills to our right, and waved us forward. "We'll start moving inland through this small valley here. We should arrive in a couple of hours if we make good time."

I looked up at the sky and frowned. The sun was already on its descent, not too far from its noon position, but far enough to indicate that this would likely end up being an overnight expedition. And by the looks of it, we might not spend tonight dry either, judging by the clouds that had began to blow in and form a cluster above. It hadn't developed into anything malignant, but the change in the weather's composition had totally snuck up on us, as I could've sworn there hadn't been a cloud in sight when we departed.

It looked like the foothills around this area of the coast had plenty of woods scattered around, where we could gather food and camp out for the approaching night. If Mincinno was correct about our time frame, we'd arrive and have an opportunity to do what investigations we needed to do before night fell, meaning we'd possibly be camping out on the way back to Lively Town.

Either way, our fate was sealed. We'd just have to smile about it and pray to Arceus that it doesn't rain.

* * *

Unfortunately, Mincinno underestimated how long i would take to trudge through the small chasm in the hills. We did eventually get through it, where our surroundings opened up into an expanse of green and gold that boasted few trees and plenty of tall grass. The grass extended up well past our waistlines, and in the case of Vulpix and Leah, all the way to their necks. I had a low enough center of gravity as it was, so I didn't have any issues staying on my feet, but it was still rather tedious trudging through the golden-brown turf with none of us being very tall.

Not far from the hills that sat between the expanse and the ocean was our destination. The village supposedly had no self-applied name, and furthermore wasn't established well enough to warrant that Jirachi give it a default marker on the map, so we simply referred to it as "the village".

By the time we actually reached the village, it was already only about four hours until twilight. Still, that left us plenty of time to get the job done and head back to the woods to set up a satisfactory camp as long as we weren't occupied for too long. When we reached the outskirts where the tall grass ended, Mincinno stopped us short and pulled a notepad out of his bag.

"Alright," he explained. "Now, we didn't really get much information in the report that was sent, besides that some Pokemon over here started acting weird and violent all of the sudden. That's literally all we know." He jotted something on his notepad and then placed it back into his bag, before running his gaze across the other four of us. "So," he continued. "We're going to find whoever's in charge, and talk to them. We'll help in whatever way we can, and then we'll head back. Keep your eyes out for anything suspicious or noteworthy, and try not to impede into the daily lives of anyone here beyond asking necessary questions. This isn't a place that experiences a lot of outside influence according to the incredibly thin scouting report that Mawile provided me, so keep that in mind when you're interacting with anyone here."

"Where are we spending the night?" Leah asked.

Mincinno looked around, before locking his eyes onto the hills to our backs. "We'll sleep somewhere over there," he said while pointing the way we came. "There's plenty of trees we can camp around, and probably a water source too."

"Dude, we're gonna get soaked," Helioptile argued with a wayward glance to the darkening skies.

Mincinno looked up too, and frowned. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. "We'll find a big tree to sit under or something. We don't have time to worry about that right now anyway, we need to get a move on."

Helioptile shrugged. "Whatever you say," he said. "I have the dry skin ability anyway, so I like the rain."

The village was considerably larger than Serene Village in size, considering all of the open land available for use with the exception of a few tall, rocky hills that extended from the earth. There were probably fifteen or so wooden houses, most of them built with a particular rectangular design in mind. It was all constructed with a mixture of wood harvested from the maple and acacia that sparsely dotted the flat landscape. Besides these tiny archaic buildings and a water well in the middle of it all, there really wasn't much here that was owed to the influence of civilization. It was all very quaint, and I found it almost relaxing in light of the impending mission.

The tall grass had been cleared away everywhere within thirty feet of the village's edge, leaving anything approaching the settlement plenty of room to be spotted first. And spotted we were, by a large Pokemon and a smaller (but still a bit taller than any of us) Pokemon that flanked his left side. By the looks of it, they had been awaiting our arrival for a good while now.

"I think they've been waiting for us," Mincinno whispered behind him in a hushed voice. "This seems to be an all-grass-type village by the looks of it, so Sage will introduce us."

I nodded my understanding of Mincinno's logical thinking, and took point just as soon as our two parties entered speaking distance. The large Chesnaught stepped forward slowly, a wooden cane in his left hand planted down to keep his declining body steady.

"Greetings!" he called in a ragged voice, further indicating his age. "Judgin' by them there badges, ya must be the group I sent out fer." He extended a large hand to me, and I unfurled a vine and shook it as firmly as I could. "I'm Chesnaught, the elder 'round these parts. 'Tis mighty nice to meet y'all."

"It's our pleasure, elder Chesnaught," I said in a level tone to not reveal any emotion beyond the fundamental friendliness of the meeting. "We're here to help with whatever you need."

"Good..." he said slowly. "My daughter here will guide you to where it is that we needed yer help. She'll explain the nitty-gritty along the way." He patted the Breloom beside him on the head, and lumbered back into one of the wooden houses nearby.

"Howdy!" the mushroom-headed girl chirped in a voice highlighted by an accent even stronger than the elder's. "I'm Breloom. Like my dad said, I'll be explainin' to you what our problem is." She took a step in the direction of a nearby hill that stood out among the rest, and motioned for us to follow. Mincinno took point again, and we all began walking.

"So, what exactly is the problem?" Vulpix asked.

"Well," Breloom paused and pursed her lips. "I reckon it's pretty dang hard to explain. We clearly ain't too close to any of them major towns or cities, so we tend to buckle up 'n solve our own problems when the hay hits the fan. But... this time's a bit different."

"How so?" I asked.

She took a couple of seconds to choose her words. "As you can see, our village here ain't too big, only housin' 'bout forty residents in total, so we got a pretty good clench on who's who and what's what. Everyone knows everyone, 'n that's just how it is 'round here. Ain't ever been no unknowns 'till just the other day..."

She paused to clear her throat, and continued. "You see, a few of the villagers done gone 'n lost their minds all of the sudden. No warnin', no nothin'. They just up 'n went ham on everyone, talkin' nonsense 'bout how the end is near 'n there ain't nothin' we can do to stop it. Some real crazy doo-doo if you ask me."

"Why are we walking away from the village?" Mincinno asked with a hint of suspicion.

"I'm takin' y'all to the Lowland Cavern. That's where them five that went crazy are at, at the moment."

"Can you explain, in detail, how they transitioned from normal, everyday residents of this village into what it is that made you call us here?" Mincinno earnestly requested.

"It all started when they began mutterin' to themselves," Breloom said with a downcast look showing on her face. "They would talk to themselves and also amongst themselves a whole ton, which was dang weird since these five never hung out with each other that often beforehand. Then, they started hollerin' 'n causin' a ruckus all the time, chantin' about death and the apocalypse. After a few days, my father done got sick of it, but them crazies hightailed it into the Lowland Cavern before anyone could knock some sense into them. Ain't nobody allowed into that place since it's one o' them hellish mazes where you get attacked by the uncivilized. So, we done called for one of y'all's special teams from Lively Town, since y'all apparently are trained to deal with these kinds of situations... Ah, I reckon we've arrived!"

By now we'd walked a good ways from the village, and we're now standing at the mouth of a cave that dug into the hill we'd been approaching. The opening didn't look too scary, but I knew plenty enough about the unpredictability of mystery dungeons that we might be in for a tough time regardless.

"How long have they been in there?" Mincinno questioned her. "And how will we recognize them?"

"'Bout five days now," the female Breloom decided. "And you'll know it's them. Trust me." She paused, and we all stood there awkwardly for a moment before she spoke up again. "I... do mightily appreciate y'all's help. The whole village does. So, we wish y'all the best of luck. It prolly goes without sayin', but please bring them back safe."

"Alright," Mincinno said flatly. "We'll get it done."

Breloom gave us a curt nod and began to turn around to make her way back to the village. Before she could do so, however, she stopped herself and shifted her head back nervously. "Um..." she hesitantly added. "If they, you know, attack y'all... try to knock them out as cleanly as you can. They done got really violent a couple times, and it wasn't pretty, so just... yeah. Thanks." She didn't stick around to give details, completing her turn and making her way back for real this time.

We all shared a mutual glance of forewarning. This might not be as normal an investigation as we had thought, if "investigation" was even an accurate description of the mission at this point in time. With our waning daylight and the knowledge that they had already been inside for days, however, we had no choice but to roll with it. There was little time to waste.

The Lowland Caverns, just as we had been told, was a mystery dungeon. I had initially offered to search for a stick that Leah could light on fire as a torch, but Helioptile stepped up proudly and declared that there was no need. It turned out that he knew flash, which was a far better alternative than carrying around a flaming stick to see. With the help of the bright-yellow glow that illuminated a large section of the cave around us, we were able to fight off any opposition that made itself present. Most of the wild Pokemon here weren't terribly strong, a lot of them being dark and rock types that were easily cut down by whoever held the type advantage in our well-rounded squad. This being our first joint mission with Team Carbon, Leah and I used this opportunity to examine their capabilities, just as they did the same for us. As far as the dungeon went, the five of us performed well as a majority of the opposition didn't match up well. It turned out that Vulpix is an ice-type and a fairy-type, and she had a decent moveset to back herself up. And Helioptile, while a bit erratic in nature, was a pretty capable fighter as well. Mincinno, as I had expected, was just the same, although unlike his teammates, preferred to fight in close quarters rather than from a ranged distance.

Thing were going smoothly for the first handful of floors, and if was looking like this would turn out positively after all. We might've written it off as just an average run through a dungeon if it weren't for the ticking.

When I first heard it, I thought it might just be raining outside and I was hearing the noise of the precipitation connecting with the earth. But when I listened closer, I realized that wouldn't make sense for two reasons. One, we weren't anywhere near the surface, probably at least nine floors down at this point, and two, this really didn't sound anything like dripping water anyway. This was a _tick, tick, tick_ sound that was not only unnatural in composition but unnatural in consistency as well. There were no alterations whatsoever in the constant flow of the sound that barely piqued my eardrums exactly every second and a half.

"Do you guys hear that?" Leah whispered to all of us.

"I... think?" Vulpix answered ambiguously.

"Something is definitely making noise," Mincinno commented in a hushed tone. "But what is it? It sounds like it's coming from far away, but from all directions..."

"Maybe if we keep moving, we'll pass by whatever's making it and it will eventually stop," Helioptile suggested.

"Sage?" Leah whispered back to me. "You can hear it too, right?"

Something was wrong here... I wasn't sure what, or why, but a sudden sensation of deafening pressure enclosed on the broad hallway we were in. It wasn't the kind that made you claustrophobic; rather, I could only best describe it as the spiritual kind that one might feel when they've angered an omnipotent deity. It was as if the walls and the ceiling were trying to tell my soul something. I'd never felt anything so supernatural before, unless you count the unwavering dread of realizing my memories were wiped clean and that I'd been turned into a Pokemon.

"Sage!" a sharp whisper called. Leah was staring at me, her face colored worried in the shadow of Helioptile's glowing body several feet away.

"Hm? Oh, s-sorry. I was just listening to the sound, that's all."

My partner nodded slowly and continued forward with the other three. I noticed with a great deal of perplexity that they all were walking just the same as before, with perhaps a meager amount of caution applied to their steps to credit the unnatural ticking sound. None of them seemed to notice, or to put more accurately, be capable of noticing the pressure that had just captivated me all of the sudden. I could still feel it lingering in the depths of my consciousness, sending a chill up my spine, and it took an extra burst of willpower just to pick my feet off the ground and catch up to them.

It was when we started to get notably deeper into the cave that I noticed my companions were beginning to feel uneasy as well, restlessly glancing around at every corner that might be hiding something. The ticking sound was no longer persisting on the contours of our imaginations as it got louder the deeper we went. It merged itself with the now-undeniable sense of dread that I was fairly certain we could all feel now, forming an omnipresent cacophony of nightmarish qualities. The sound still held its form; every one and a half second I'd hear a loud _tick_ before it would cycle again. But as it continued to get louder, the source continued to evade the physical realm. It came from the walls, and the floor and ceiling, and from inside us too.

"S-Sage?" Leah whispered under her breath as she fell into step beside me. I could see the hair on the back of her neck was sticking up, and realized after a brief self-evaluation that I felt the same tension she did.

"Yeah?" I answered coarsely.

Her eyes were now full of fear, and I was reminded of her misgivings about anything involving the supernatural. "I..." she immediately found trouble speaking. "I don't think this is a normal dungeon anymore."

"Neither do I." I breathed out slowly. No words of comfort were to be shared here, where it felt like the universe was collapsing in on us and nobody had the faintest idea why.

I came to the grim realization that, although we should still be in a mystery dungeon, there hadn't been a single wild Pokemon to appear for a good while now. I voiced this to everyone, who paid it half a mind under the intensified strain on our spirits. Mincinno finally suggested that they were probably scared off by whatever's causing this weird feeling, which definitely didn't do a good job making any of us feel better about this. No, this was certainly not a normal dungeon. Something was very, very wrong. Something else was here, in this cave, and it knew we were here too.

I was on the verge of suggesting that we just abort the mission altogether, when we finally reached a dead-end. Before us was a gigantic stone slab that appeared to serve as a door or a seal of some sort. Upon closer inspection, I noticed little runes scribbled into the rock, none of which I could begin to decipher.

"What the hell is this?" Mincinno said as he ran his paw across the giant rectangular stone. "Can any of you read this?"

We all got closer and inspected it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make sense of any of it. It was some kind of bygone language that I wouldn't have known anything about. By the looks of disappointment on my friends' faces, they had all reached a similar conclusion.

"I bet Mawile could figure this out," Helioptile said after a couple of unsuccessful minutes. "Maybe we should take it back to her?"

"How do you imagine we haul a twenty-ton slab back to Mawile?" Vulpix chafed.

"We could-" he stopped himself short and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hrmm... yeah, I got nothing."

"Get a good look at a few of the runes so we can describe them from memory," Mincinno ordered. "It's better than nothing."

"This is great and all," Leah said with another nervous glance around the dead-end room. "But where are the villagers we came in here for?"

"And where's this ticking sound coming from?" Vulpix added. "Shouldn't we have found it by now if this is the end of the cave?"

She had a good point. The ticking now actually was rather deafening by any definition, and the pressure we had been feeling intensified to a level even higher than before. Helioptile's glowing body lit up the entire room well enough, but it still didn't satisfy the ominous sensation of being watched at every angle. It didn't make any sense, and part of me didn't want it to. I just wanted to find these stupid nutcase villagers and leave at this point.

"Hey, check this out," Vulpix whispered. She was looking at some kind of pole on the right side of the slab that had escaped my notice. It extended from the ground up a few feet in the air, where a cylinder containing charred wood rested on top. Another identical pole sat opposite of this one on the left side of the slab, making their purpose all-too-obvious.

"Leah, do you think you could light those two torches?" Vulpix asked her. "I think it might do something."

Leah nodded, and a burst of fire formed in her throat. She held back enough on the attack to simmer against the wood just enough to start a small fire. She did the same for both torches, and then stepped back with the rest of us to see what would happen next.

At first, nothing happened at all. It took about ten seconds for us to finally hear a rumbling sound, this sound overlapping the constant ticking and shaking the cave around us. We all panicked at first, thinking it was about to collapse on us, when we quickly realized that it was the giant slab that was doing the rumbling. The whole room shook as it began descending into the floor, opening up a new entrance behind it. Once the top of the slab was aligned with the floor, it abruptly stopped moving, and the cave went silent. We all held our breath as we came to the grim realization that the ticking sound, too, had stopped.

We didn't even get a chance to comprehend the otherworldliness of the uncanny silence, before a new sound canceled it out and made us all tense up even more than before.

We heard groaning. Like someone was deathly sick. And it was coming from inside the room that had just opened up.

"Guys..." I whispered. "I think I know where those villagers are."

"Alright," Mincinno began quietly, keeping a wayward eye on the entrance to make sure nothing emerged. "Leah will take the bottom left corner, and Vulpix will take the bottom right corner. Helioptile will lead and Sage and I will flank him from a half-step behind so we don't cast any shadows in places that aren't already accounted for. We clear the room, grab the villagers, and then we go. If they put up some kind of fight, we knock them out while maintaining formation. Understood?"

We all nodded, and got in a tight pentagonal formation. Mincinno waited a moment for us to get our bearings and take a deep breath, and then waved us forward.

"Now!" he hissed.

We burst through the moderately-sized entrance and into a room that was a little less than twice the size of our bedroom back at the Expedition Society. Vulpix and Leah took their diagonal angles as instructed, first checking the back corners and then turning their attention forward. The other three of us advanced forward, ready for anything that might lunge at us.

When I finally gathered a perception of where we were, I gagged and nearly stumbled from the assault on my senses. There were rectangular shelves cut into the walls of the room of all different lengths, most of them occupied by what could only be decomposing bones and skeletons that were in the bleak transition of becoming one with the earth. The ones I could immediately see spanned what could be thousands of years apart from each other in the decomposition process, but they all were undoubtedly very old. The skulls, for the most part, were so ancient that I couldn't even begin to determine the species of any of them. The only thing that I could determine by looking at them was that this was a very old tomb.

Near the back wall of the room was a single rectangular stone coffin, with the lid smashed apart and bits and pieces of it scattered all across the room. Around this tomb was where we finally saw the moaning villagers.

They were all kneeling at the altar, with their faces down on the floor and their palms extended outward and resting on the sides of the coffin. All five of them sat in a perfect semi-circle around it, and didn't waver an inch from our noisy arrival.

It looked like a Simisage, a Swadloon, a Treecko, and a Roselia made up the four that sat on either side of the one in the middle, who I couldn't quite see from my current angle. Then, in an action that broke the standstill, the one in the middle got up from his worshipping position, and turned to face us. My heart skipped a beat when I saw his him, and I instantly regretted ever coming down here.

He looked terrible, for starters, like he hadn't eaten or been outside in a lifetime. Skin was starting to peel off of his face, and the entire green portion of his scaly body was starting to dry out and match the color of his pale underbelly, giving him a look that screamed death. If not for the demonic red eyes that glowed in direct opposition to Helioptile's flash, I'd have thought the Snivy before us was a walking corpse.

If I thought I was scared at the sight of his remains, then I was in for a shock when I heard his distorted voice.

"fiLThY HuMAn!" his voice creaked, echoing through the room and stabbing a knife through my soul. "yOU CaNnOT eSCaPe thE INeVitaBLe!"

We all could do nothing but stare at the animated remains of the possessed Snivy in our petrified state. It was all so sudden, and nobody knew how to react, or even knew if responding was even a good path of action at all.

"fOoL! YOu aRe nOThiNG bUT aN uMBraGe oF wHaT yOU oNcE wERe!" The Snivy's rotten body jerked abnormally, and his head snapped upwards at an impossible angle. "HeED mY tOKeN; yOU ShALL bE COnsUMeD bY tHE sUN aLOnG wITh tHE REsT oF yOUr DeFIcIENt kIND! iT Is yOUr dEStinY!"

The Snivy's head finally snapped back into its normal position, and shuddered once more. Then, without another moment's hesitation, he levitated forward at breakneck speed with his tattered vines out and in a threatening position.

Something inside me swelled and propelled me forward to meet the approaching enemy a moment sooner than any of my companions could react. The forces of my healthy vines clashed with the rotten vines of the enemy, and I felt little resistance as I cut through rotten cells. Slicing my two weapons in an X-shape, the dead Snivy's brown vines were cut clean off almost instantly, and the force holding him an inch off the ground let go. The corpse's momentum carried it forward, and I fell back as it landed right on top of me.

Its red eyes stared into mine, and I felt two entities intertwine in a helix that I could feel spanning countless generations. I stared back, and found mockery reflected back at me. Mockery dominated by the kind of anger that followed a desire for vengeance and suffering. And it made me angry. It made me very angry.

"You're running out of time Sage..." it whispered into my ear.

I shoved the corpse off of me and prepared to deal it another volley of vine whip. But there was no need; the red glimmer in his eyes had dissolved, and the body had gone completely limp. The other villagers kneeling by the tomb violently spasmed as soon as this happened, before falling limp as well.

None of us could muster any words to what had just happened. As I sat there on the ground surrounded by bones, I felt an uncomfortable sense of disconnect from the rational world around me. It was all too much, and not even the remains of Helioptile's glow could remain in my vision as my consciousness escaped into nothingness.


	23. Puzzles and Promises

Chapter 23 - Puzzles and Promises

Something was wrong here.

Something or someone, somewhere, was causing this to happen to me intentionally, and for reasons that I was starting to disregard the desire to know of entirely. Even that unending desire of mine to understand what was going on was now beginning to turn inside-out and leave me mentally marooned. Now, I just wanted to escape my problems—whatever the root of those problems may be. But as fate would have it, committing to this would inevitably require collecting information about why I was here, and that would require facing up to the force that orchestrated it. Running away was not an option; thus, my logic would chase its tail and form a pointless loop if I tried.

No matter what I did, I couldn't escape this force now. No cataclysmic spiritual trauma could drown this one screeching realization out. This... enemy, that for my own sake I had to assume was a product of evil, knew me better than I knew myself, and would find me no matter where I went. Trying to escape from it was clearly pointless in light of the swerve this mission had taken out of absolutely nowhere. How foolish I had been to assume that the danger wouldn't follow me, that it was really secluded to three random Beeheyem and an unseen puppet-master pulling their strings. I had seen it in the unadulterated recognition in that Snivy's eyes; I was… _tied_ to whatever it was that had possessed its deteriorating body, as if we had confronted each other before on a different timeline. For all I knew, we had done just that, and I simply couldn't remember.

Things hadn't looked up much following my collapse in that closed-off room. I had thought it was a dream at first, colored confused lying in a small bed in a small village house that was vividly reminiscent of my first awakening as a Snivy. Leah had been out gathering water while the other three were helping with the burials of the five poor souls who we had confronted underground. She arrived to find me wide awake, where my blank stare clashed with the instant mixture of relief and concern that dominated her expression. She'd nearly dropped the bucket of water when she saw me awake.

"Oh—Sage!" She quickly ran over to my side and placed a gentle paw on my head, checking me over as though I was on my deathbed. "H-How do you feel?"

I held my emotionless stare for a couple of seconds before breaking it to survey my surroundings. I had been placed on a straw bed in a dry wooden house that I right away figured must have been one of the village houses.

I opened my mouth to speak and nearly choked on the dryness of my throat. Leah lowered the bucket to me, and I gulped up as much as I could, only stopping to breathe. I sat up on one knee and splashed a little on my face, saturating my cells and bringing color back to my scales. I opened my mouth to speak again, this time with a little more success.

"I'm fine, I-I'm not injured or anything…" I rubbed my head and cringed. "Wh-what happened?"

My assurances did little to dismiss the concern expressed in Leah's tone. "…You passed out in that final room. When that Snivy attacked, it said something to you and you were out cold. I-I was worried for a moment that…" Leah paused and shook her head. "…Do you remember anything?"

I recalled everything perfectly. It had all felt like a dream, like it wasn't real, but I knew that couldn't be right. I couldn't escape from that feeling I got when I had looked into those red eyes. There had been something there, a hatred that I'd never seen in the eyes of any regular Pokemon and doubted I ever would.

Leah didn't press me far on what exactly went down in that room, which I was more than happy about. It wasn't like I knew much about it to begin with.

Mincinno, on the other hand, was much less lenient.

"What the hell was all that about?!" was the first thing he demanded to know when he barged in. His tone held an unsettling air of suspicion that caught me a bit off guard considering how well our initial acquaintance had played out. Vulpix and Helioptile trailed him, both looking nervous at his interrogative persistence but also heeding me in the same doubtful fashion. I could hardly blame them. Even though I was fairly certain they couldn't hear that Snivy's last little whisper in my ear, the turbulent speech directed at me beforehand was more than enough to raise the alarm that I wasn't the everyday Snivy they probably had thought I was.

Regardless of that reality, Leah wasn't having it. "Relax!" she shot back at him, coming to my defense in an instant. "Sage is still trying to make sense of what those Pokemon were, just like we are! Give him some sp—"

"No, not that!" Mincinno fiercely interrupted, clenching his fists at his sides and aggressively flicking his furry tail. "I meant about the 'human' part! That guy—that _thing_ —called you a human. Care to explain that?" He glared at me, and I saw that the deduction I had been fearing was already nested firmly in his eyes. "Is there something you know that you aren't telling us?"

I almost scoffed. At this bleak point, I didn't even know right from left, so that question came off as more of a joke. His last words being rhetorical certainly didn't help. But all the same, it was a valid question; I hadn't told anyone in the Expedition Society that I was a human, to which I could only hope and pray wouldn't collapse a ceiling of controversy on my head now that it was all but revealed.

"Well?"

In a fit of resurgence, I unintentionally found the same supernatural source of anger that had come over me last night when looking into that Snivy's mocking eyes, and snapped back at him. "You know what, back off!" I hissed, my voice coming out coarse and exhausted. "I don't know what happened! I don't even think I know anything anymore! Nothing—none of this makes sense!"

"Listen very closely," Mincinno countered, his voice lowering a bit but with heightened suspicion. "We don't keep secrets in the Expedition Society. We may be on the same side, but it's hard to keep everyone safe with all sorts of unnecessary miscommunications flying around. If you have any personal involvement with that little episode in that creepy coffin room, you need to spill it. For everyone's sake."

"We just want to help you," Vulpix anxiously added. "Remember, we're here for you if something's wrong. It just requires transparency."

I sighed and gave up on what would've been a useless retort. If hiding from the abominable forces seeking my demise wasn't a plausible option anymore, then there was little point keeping my humanity a secret from those I was supposed to be trusting. I doubted I'd get kicked out of the Expedition Society for it anyway, especially since this was only my first week. At least this time likely wouldn't be a repeat of my confession at school, given that back then nobody had any incentive to believe me.

"Yeah, fine," I mumbled. "I'm—or, I was—a human, I admit it."

Mincinno's expression changed from culled suspicion to a blank stare. Vulpix's jaw dropped slightly, and she slapped a paw over her mouth to muffle a shocked gasp.

"What did you say?" Helioptile said, not quite hearing me right.

"I said I'm a human!" I was doing everything I could to remain calm, but frustration was beginning to boil over. "That's it! That's all I know! I can't remember who I was before waking up as a Snivy in the middle of some forest, and I have absolutely no idea what's going on! I have no parents, no family, no memories…"

"I'm pretty sure that thing down there knew you," Mincinno said matter-of-factly. "And you're saying you can't remember that?"

"Yes! Trust me, I'm more confused right now than you are, but that's my situation!"

Mincinno still glared at me for a short moment longer, before finally shaking his head and walking back out the door. "Whatever then. The mission is completed, so we're leaving in five minutes. Y'all be ready in three." We barely heard him mumble the end of it as he pulled the creaky door shut behind him. Just like that, the exchange with the normal-type had ceased as quickly as he'd barged in minutes prior.

A look of awe dawned on Helioptile's face as he gave me a quick once-over. He walked over to me and inspected me from every angle in a slightly comedic expression of his stupefaction. "So you legit were once a human?" he asked me in a breathy voice. "Like, you were turned into a Pokemon after being one for a time?"

He saw my perturbed nod and his facial expression contorted to one of even more reverence as what I had said apparently sunk in further.

"Yo, that is wicked! I'm actually talking to a human!" He turned to Vulpix, who also seemed to be processing my confession with more reserved discipline than her erratic teammate. "Vulpi! This is so cool!"

I rubbed the back of my head, flustered at his amazed reaction. "Y-Yeah, I'm a human, I guess. Although, it's probably been anything but 'cool' for me and anyone aligned with me."

Leah placed a comforting paw on my shoulder and smiled warmly. "It's been pretty cool for me, Sage."

Even with the gravity of what had happened, I still couldn't help but smile back and relieve some of the pressure off of my shoulders for a second. Even if Leah was wrapped up in all of this because of my presence, I couldn't paint my decision to leave with her as a regretful one, and knowing she felt the same way dismissed a lot of my doubts. It was soul-saving to have this kind of constant, reliable reassurance around when things continued to make less and less sense as time went by.

Vulpix rubbed a paw through her flowing headfur and frowned. "So, does that mean what you told us about where you came from isn't true?" Her voice held no accusation in it, instead sounding like nothing more than nagging curiosity, which was a good sign. It almost made me feel bad about not coming clean straight away, although this was still hard to place my opinion considering most of the Society members still didn't know about this. That would be an obstacle for when we got back, which I'd have to worry about then. In the meantime, I'd need to quickly clear things up with these two and the naturally-distrusting Mincinno who wasn't taking the timing of the news quite as smoothly.

"No, not necessarily," I admitted. "I woke up on the distant outskirts of Serene Village, and I was adopted by a nice Pokemon and lived there for a few months. There I met Leah, and we formed our exploration team and eventually took our talents east to join the Expedition Society. All of that is a hundred-percent true."

Vulpix turned to Leah now, giving her a questioning stare. "I'm assuming you've known for a while that he was once a human, right?"

Leah nodded, and lowered her head sheepishly. "Yeah, I knew, of course. We don't really keep secrets from each other."

"How did he prove to you that he was a human?" Helioptile asked with a frown, his childish demeanor now turned to favor a professional curiosity of his own.

The proposed question seemed to take Leah a little off guard, and she frowned as well. "Well..." she paused to think for a second, and just shrugged. "He didn't, really. I just always believed it from the start, I guess."

Vulpix was taken aback by her nonchalant answer, or lack thereof. "What?" she breathed. "I mean, after what happened in that dungeon last night, Sage's confession makes a lot of sense. That's why as unbelievable as it sounds, I believe him... But what made you trust him on something so outlandish, when for all you knew he could've been leading you on the whole time? If he's only been a human for a few months like he mentioned just now, then you surely couldn't have known each other long enough to justify not questioning the claim even a little, right?"

Leah rubbed the back of her head nervously, and exhaled deeply before elaborating. "It's a long story, but it all came together when we saved a child from a dangerous place and returned her to her mother. He believed in me when no one else would, so when he confessed being a human and was laughed at, I only felt it right to believe in him too." Then she stuck her nose in the air and smiled proudly. "—and it turns out I was right to do so, because it ended up being true. Just as I expected."

I cleared my throat loudly, getting tired of being talked about as if I weren't in the room. I pointed a partially unsheathed vine at the door, and used my other one to grab my bag, which I saw had been tossed aside by the wall. "We can talk more about it later, preferably when we're back in Lively Town with everyone present. For now, we shouldn't keep Mincinno waiting so we can get out of here."

Vulpix cast a sideways glance at the window, and sighed. "Well, I guess we technically completed the mission… e-even if the outcome wasn't exactly what anyone had hoped for. So, sure, let's go."

"Yuh," Helioptile nodded. "I don't like staying too long near places that have creepy tombs with secret-stealing ghosts nearby. Let's roll out."

* * *

The swirling clouds from the night before had poured themselves dry while we were busy chasing those villagers underground, and it left an extra medium of humidity as a symbol of its passing. I was starting to understand why this land was called the "Water Continent", and often properly given the surname "Typhoon Woodlands" by some historians. There really hadn't been much rain in my time in Serene Village, at least not apart from what one could expect in the middle of the forging drought. But this didn't seem to be the case so near the ocean, as the strategic altitude and stark design of Lively Town's port now stood out to me for this reason.

Mincinno paid me little mind through the entire day's trek down the soggy coast. He didn't seem too upset as the day went on, although I'm pretty sure Vulpix might have mentioned something about the nature my confession in order to get on his reasonable side while I was in the back mindlessly dozing during the long walk. Mincinno's attitude wasn't any more a secret than my humanity was at this point; he was a leader with a high work ethic who took every new turn with an intentionally heightened level of caution. I understood it so well and read into it perfectly because it was the same mindset I had tried to apply to my own experience in this world. I may not have executed it quite as efficiently as I saw Mincinno was able to with all past events considered, but my intentions to stay safe and figure this mess out in a cost-effective manner met a parallel with his desire to keep his team safe and get work done thoroughly. How could I hold that against someone? Even though I had probably the best excuse one could imagine for not being very trusting, I had to assume that he had his own little backstory to justify himself as well. It would probably be more believable than mine anyway.

But still, even Mincinno seemed to unconditionally trust those in the Expedition Society, especially his two teammates. It was one thing to be cautious, and another entirely different thing to be totally irrational, and I was thankful that he had shown enough reason to see this through rather than lose his professionalism over a trivial deception, however relevant or revolutionary it may have been. I saw through his front clearly enough to realize he had probably already forgiven me. It was just that, much like me, he hated not being thoroughly informed from the get-go.

Vulpix and Helioptile had also practically forgotten the mission's dark turn once we were about halfway back, smiling and cracking jokes with Leah and I. Mincinno wasn't really much of a senseless talker to begin with, but even he seemed to relax a little as the distance between our group and the savannah grew with each step down the coastline. The weight hadn't necessarily been lifted, but we at least found comfort in the salty winds and the bright pallet of the sunset coloring the jagged skyline to our left.

It was only during this walk that I found myself once again idly thinking about the encounter with that putrid reflection of my species. He, or rather whatever entity had his dead (or nearly dead) body in some kind of cerebral choke-hold, had spoken words that aligned well enough with what that Breloom girl had told us.

I hadn't forgotten a word. And I definitely hadn't forgotten the feeling it gave me when I heard that voice, and saw the evil in those demonic eyes. It had resounded within me as an echoing cry calling for my end. It felt like me and that thing simply couldn't coexist together, that each passing second with us in the same room was a contradiction of supreme will. Just thinking back on it made me uneasy. While walking, I tried to distract myself with the waves or the sand under my feet before my attention would be inevitably torn back to memories of the tomb.

That entity… I realized it had made one small slip up. It had given me some kind of informative speech, which had been pretty ineffective given that the danger had been abolished with a single swipe of my vines. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that, while this event had presented a number of questions to be considered, it had answered a few of them as well.

For starters, my concern that an unseen power larger than the Beeheyem was at work against me was now all but confirmed. Also, I knew that this thing had supernatural and possibly borderline-omnipotent capabilities, as that would be the only explanation for it leading me to that cave for a direct confrontation despite the distance I had put between myself and the general location that I had first woken up as a Pokemon with no memories. This random expedition, not even a week after leaving Serene Village, somehow landed me in an even more precarious spot than I was before. I'd have to be a fool to consider that a coincidence.

The part that captured my attention the most, however, was the word choice it used. That thing told me that I couldn't escape the inevitable, and that "my kind" would be "consumed by the sun"... whatever that was supposed to mean. Whether this a genuine foretelling or just some of the apocalyptic dribble that we were told to expect, it was definitely worth remembering for future reference. But what really had made me stop and pause was the fact that it had mentioned "what I once was". Fortunately for me, this would hopefully give me a place to start putting this million-piece puzzle together. This supported the untold feeling of recognition and understanding that had dulled my senses and shoved me forward to meet that Snivy's sporadic charge with an interceptive attack of my own. I knew that in some way, somehow, in some universe, I was affiliated with whatever that thing was.

In light of the five villagers' unfortunate passing and the nightmarish turn of events, this piece of the puzzle was a small victory in the midst of the storm. I may not know what that thing is capable of, or if it's even tied to the Beeheyem in any way, but I at least knew this. On this path of uncertainty that I was wrapped up in, there was this one constant.

We were certain to meet again.

* * *

I couldn't have been more relieved to see the glimmering lights of Lively Town stick out in the horizon's darkness as we took our last steps through the sand. Unfortunately, it had been around noon when I had woken in the village, meaning that even at a brisk pace we wouldn't have made it back at the headquarters until a couple hours past sunset. The walk back was as uneventful as the walk there, so it wasn't too difficult to predict when we'd finish the journey.

Vulpix had taken the liberty of calling in about an hour before our arrival and telling Dedenne that we would be back later than expected. The electric mouse sounded like she was getting ready for bed, which was appropriate considering the sun was already well below the jagged horizon. We didn't see it fit to camp out for the night when we were so close to Lively Town, keeping in mind that our close proximity to the ocean distanced the five of us from any mystery dungeons nearby and thus made it highly unlikely that we'd encounter any hostile Pokemon under the coastal quarter-moon. Tired as we were, we finished strong with the motivation of warm beds and fortified quarters dangling in front of us.

When we finally reached the port and climbed the wooden stairs, we emerged to find that the once busy streets of Lively Town were now abandoned at this late hour. The sheer emptiness of the town shocked me for a moment, and I did a double-take down a couple of alleyways. After looking around a bit, I could tell there wasn't anything abnormal about it, as one could expect a large majority of the residents to be asleep by this time. It was just that the only images of Lively Town I had seen was the hustle and bustle of a busy day, with loud advertisements ringing across the square and young and old Pokemon alike roaming the streets going about their lives. Now this motionless peace was all that I observed as our group strolled through the barren town square illuminated by the dim yellow glow of sparsely-placed streetlamps. The docks were left just as they had been before, with maybe a few crates added or subtracted here and there, but were now lifeless apart from the humid breeze that filtered through. We did actually see a couple of nocturnal bird Pokemon flying about as we walked down the cobblestone path leading to the headquarter's doorstep, but that would about sum up the town at this hour.

None of the windows on the front of the Expedition Society compound were emitting light, so I began the assumption that nobody was awake, and then quickly discarded it when I caught the glimpse of a lantern flicker from a side window.

"Looks like Mawile is still awake," Mincinno remarked as he saw it at the same time, breaking the tranquil silence that had settled over the sleeping town. He turned back to look at me as he held the door open. "As you know, she's the historian. If anyone can help us even begin to understand what we saw, it's her."

I briefly remembered Mawile's introduction two days ago, when she told us that if we needed any research done we should talk to her. And fortunately, this form of in-depth information was exactly what I needed. I just hoped that the mythological phenomenon of my physical transformation and slated memories wasn't so impossibly rare that she wouldn't have anything covering it. We would just have to see.

The first and second story main rooms were both still and quiet just as the town outside had been. The lack of Society members skipping through the halls running their errands was another blatant contrast to what I had become accustomed to in the two days Leah and I had been in the building. Now as we neared the end of the third, I realized I had already begun to solidify the compound in my mind as a permanent residence. Weeks ago I might have berated myself for getting too comfortable, but now I couldn't feel any doubts clawing at me. I wasn't sure whether this was a good or a bad thing, but I assumed that if it were bad, I'd recognize it as such. In light of the confusion and relentless frustration that rang through my head following that last mission, I found a lot of comfort being back here, in this building. I felt safe, my relief being further exalted by the strength in numbers that came with my association here.

Part of that strength came in the form of the knowledge we now sought from sleepless Mawile, who we found was indeed still awake sifting through a pile of papers with countless inscriptions and illustrations scribbled on. Mawile's office was what one might describe as a tidy mess; stuff was literally everywhere, but all of it had an organized purpose to it. It wasn't all that large with it being hardly the size of one of the bedrooms, but it seemed to contain an entire library's worth of material. The only wall that wasn't either covered with maps or bookshelves was the back wall with the window, where a different shelf sat just beneath it holding what appeared to be artifacts and relics preserved inside the wooden encasing with a pane of glass. The light at the top of the room was similar to the one that was hanging in our bedroom, but this one wasn't lit. Instead, a small battery-powered lamp cast a beam of light over the rectangular desk in the middle of the room, where we could faintly make out the silhouette of the researcher in question.

She saw us as soon as we saw her, and she opened her mouth to speak. A sizable yawn stole the syllables where words were intended, and Mawile shook her head and blinked her eyes a few times before clearing her throat and trying again. "Excuse me, I'm just a bit tired," she told us as she unsuccessfully tried to look wide awake by straining her young features into an uncomfortable smile. "I see you five are finally back. Dedenne came and told me you had successfully completed your job already, so you can all head to bed now." She waved us off, and began trying to focus on whatever she was doing while keeping herself awake again. The five of us continued to stand there awkwardly.

"Eh, actually, it's not quite that simple," Helioptile said after a couple seconds of silence, making Mawile glance back up and frown.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, removing her glasses for a moment.

Mincinno nudged me from behind, nodding expectantly at me to step forward. I shot him a glare, but withdrew it when it occurred to me that he was probably right that it was proper for me to explain what happened.

I stepped up and gave a detailed summary of everything that happened from our arrival in the village to the climax, where the other four then pitched in to explain the irrelevant details of what played out after I had lost consciousness. I purposely made sure to leave out the part about the spiteful connection I had unwillingly shared with the entity. That was something that I couldn't yet comprehend the reasoning behind, and for the sake of self-honesty, scared me immensely.

"Let me get this straight," Mawile finally began after a couple of seconds absorbing the brigade of information. "The five of you encountered a possessive demonic entity in a cave that was aware Sage here was a human, and was in some way or another associated with him?" She stopped briefly to polish her glasses, and then discreetly placed them back. Even the air of professionalism the specs gave the historian couldn't disguise the abashment in her expression and voice. Mawile sighed bewilderingly and looked straight at me before continuing. "And on top of that, you're claiming that you, in fact, were once a human, and that you've been changed into a Snivy. Is that right?"

I inhaled nervously and then held it in for a moment of my own consideration, before letting the air out through my nose as I completed a nodding motion. "Yes, that's about it." I paused, before remembering something important. "Oh! Just one thing- I can't actually remember my experience of being a human."

Mawile stared at me, dumbfounded. "You can't remember anything? At all?" Her voice had an unmistakable hint of disappointment in it that mirrored my initial outlook on the fact.

"Nothing. Other than the fact that I was once a human and my name, I can't remember a single thing."

Mawile rubbed her eyes absentmindedly, and moved to get up from her chair. She wobbled a bit as she rose, clearly having been sitting for a good while, before finding her balance and shuffling over to a filing cabinet placed by the wall under a multitude of cartographic sketches and illustrations.

"You okay Mawile?" Helioptile asked her as she drummed through the overflowing paper contents. "You look like you haven't slept in a week."

"Yeah, that about sums it up," Mawile said groggily. "I've gotten maybe... five, six-ish hours of sleep in the past... five, six-ish days? ...Yeah, you can do the math on that one."

"That's bloody dreadful," Mincinno remarked.

"What have you been doing?" Leah inquired, gesturing at the mess on Mawile's desk. "All of that?"

Mawile clicked her tongue and nodded. "Mm hmm. Research and paperwork. This kind of thing makes up a large part of my job here, although Dedenne and Jirachi often find themselves helping me out every now and then when I need it." She continued drumming through the cabinet for a few more seconds in impatient silence before eventually huffing in defeat and pushing it shut, evidently not finding what she was looking for. Her attention was now free to return to our group, where we waited for her to respond. "I'm afraid I can't immediately find the files I have that involve humanology at the moment. I'm a bit preoccupied as it is, so I'll have to help you tomorrow when you can give me some of the details. I'm… too tired to process that kind of stuff right now."

I shrugged. "I can live with that."

Mincinno narrowed his eyes, characteristically putting on his 'something smells fishy' face. "What's going on that's got you so preoccupied then? It's well known that you're a huge night owl, but this kind of binging just isn't healthy."

Mawile suppressed a yawn and stared blankly at him as she answered his skepticism. "You really wanna know why?" she asked dryly. Mincinno's own vigilant stare didn't shift an inch, and she sighed in acquiescence. "It's because of this whole stone thing. It's showing no signs of decelerating, and we still can't figure any of it out. Every lead has been a dud up to this point."

"Mawile, we need to be informed about this kind of thing," Mincinno argued. "You and Ampharos can't just leave the rest of us in the dark."

While he looked hardened in his convictions, his teammates didn't look too convinced. Vulpix had told me, after all, that she wasn't interested in dealing with this mysterious business in fear of being turned to stone herself. I personally wasn't sure how I felt about it, considering how I had really only heard rumors and stories about the disasters. Part of me wanted to be like Mincinno and dive in headfirst, milking the possibility that these strange incidents beginning around the same time I came to this world were more than just coincidental. Another part of me, however, wanted to avoid the issue… for the exact same reason.

Mawile glared with baggy eyes at Mincinno, who stood by the doorway facing her with his arms crossed. "Mincinno, your job as an explorer is to work in the field and do good for the Pokemon of the Water Continent. When Jirachi and I figure out the science behind these events, or I dig up some historical miracle that will pave the way, you can be rest assured that the rest of you will be sent to execute Project Chisel immediately. But until then, you'll just have to be patient." She shifted her gaze from him to me and Leah, and it softened into an apologetic gesture. "Oh, I forgot you two are new. You're probably wondering what Project Chisel is. Let me explain—"

Her summarization aligned pretty seamlessly with the one Vulpix had already given me. I assumed Leah hadn't heard it yet, though, as she took in every detail with piqued interest.

"So we're really going to be investigating this stuff?" Leah asked a little excitedly.

"At some point, you very well might," Mawile confirmed. "But don't get too worked up just yet, we still know very little about it. And from what little we do know, solving the issue probably won't be as simple as catching some petty criminal."

"Alright, fine. But always remember, we're here to help too." Mincinno answered. He turned to leave, but stopped himself and glanced over his shoulder at the bag-eyes researcher. "And Mawile... good grief, get some sleep. No offense, but you look like shit."

"Charming," Mawile mumbled, chuckling a bit to herself. She sat back down in her chair, leaning back to stretch her legs for a moment. Realizing the time, she waved us off as she let out yet another yawn, this one too hefty to hold in for manners' sake. We all got the memo and shuffled out the doorway one by one, before heading down to the first floor where our rooms sat waiting for our return. Before we split, Mincinno gathered us in a huddle in the center of the first floor meeting room for review.

"Okay, this mission pretty much went to shit as soon as that... we can call it a demon, right?" We all just shrugged, so Mincinno went with it. "—as soon as that demon recognized Sage here, and killed off the Pokemon we were trying to save. That part definitely could've gone better. But all in all, there isn't much any of us could've done to prevent that, so it can't be helped. As far as our journey through the actual dungeon went, you all performed nicely. We'll have to explain the unfortunate details to Ampharos tomorrow, but I'm sure he'll still recognize the work we did."

"Who's gonna do that?" Helioptile asked a little too loudly, earning him a soft jab from Vulpix to keep his voice down to not wake the others.

"We can work that out tomorrow," I said before Mincinno could answer. "For now, we just need sleep."

"Yeah, I'm with him," Leah concurred.

Mincinno nodded. "Alright, let's get to bed then. We can stress about all this then."

"Night you two," Vulpix yawned. "And good job today. Seems like Ampharos knew what he was doing when he let you both join."

"Yuh, we should totally pipe it up together more often," Helioptile suggested.

A smile spread across my face that was easily visible in the dim light. "We might just take you guys up on that."

"Goodnight everyone," Leah whispered behind her as our two groups parted down opposite hallways.

Mincinno nodded and fell into step with Vulpix and Helioptile. "G'night Leah. G'night human."

With all of the pressing matters at hand, I had come to ignore the weight of our new treasure bag on my shoulders. Now it felt like a hundred pounds was inside, and I sluggishly shrugged it off and tossed it by the wall where it and its contents settled in a disorderly heap. Leah and I collapsed onto our beds at the same time, and I heard the sound of feathers ruffling as she positioned her tail to curl over her exposed belly for warmth. I didn't have fur to keep me warm; my own anatomical temperature regulation was more of an internal thing… not that I felt very cold anyway.

I wanted to get to sleep right away, as I knew I would need my rest for tomorrow's duties. But there was just so much to process right now, from the so-called "demon", to the drought, to the stone incidents, and then just being in the Expedition Society in general. All of it swirled around in my head, and my initial attempts to lose consciousness fell to waste.

Even though we were living up to expectations so far, it had only been a handful of days and I was already starting to feel the effects of our labor. This was not quite like the misadventures in Serene Village where we could explore whenever and wherever we wanted and take elongated breaks to crack jokes or look at the clouds or sing silly tunes that originated from nowhere. This was a career right here, and it was just as tough as it was worth the effort.

I just hoped nothing would happen to change that. Because at the current moment, I wasn't really sure if anyone or anything around me was safe or not. Not after that thing made its presence known in a place that I had only gone to by chance since Team Carbon needed a couple of extra bodies to accompany them.

Uncomfortable in my current resting position, I shifted ever so slightly on my side as I continuously flipped and tossed the thought over and over in my head. I explored possible alternatives to the choices I had made in the past, and they really all led to the same blurry spot I was in now: surrounded by those who support me and care, and yet positively at a loss for what to do. I could only see myself moving forward at this point, hoping that I might be able to combat, or at the very least come to understand and eventually finesse, this enemy that refused to explain itself. Perhaps I could—

"Sage?"

The audible sound of a single voice beckoned my consciousness back to the level of reality, and I was keenly aware of myself and my partner in the dark bedroom. Leah's voice brought a medium of silence following its punctuation, and I shoved aside my thoughts to answer.

"Hm?" I murmured.

"You okay?" I rolled my head over to see that she had uncurled and was resting her head in her front paws, her orange eyes reflecting back some of the moonlight. "You're tossing and turning like something's bothering you... Want to talk about it?"

I supposed it was pretty obvious how much was on my mind, but I hadn't meant to be so obvious. If nothing else, I could've been more subtle about it… Oh well, I couldn't really blame Leah for having acute hearing with those big Fennekin ears of hers.

"I'm good," I dismissively whispered. "I'm just having a little trouble falling asleep, that's all."

There was a lengthy ripple in the brief conversation, and I had thought she had gone back to sleep. But then she spoke again.

"Sage? Do you... regret coming here?"

My eyes grew wide, and I grunted in surprise. "Wh-What? Do I… regret?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I—no. No, of course not." I reassured her in a hushed tone. "Why would you think that?"

"It just…" she began, before pausing to sigh. She positioned herself in her bed to sit up, thinking of ways to articulate herself. "It… seems like no matter where you go, there's something after you. It's like nature itself hates you for being human once. I thought running from Serene Village would allow you to escape that, but it ended up not mattering." She paused again, this time for longer. "So… do you regret that decision?"

"Leah… the reason I wanted to leave Serene Village was so no harm would come to the Pokemon there." Despite the heavy weight in my chest, I found it in myself to chuckle. "—And plus, I still had a promise to uphold."

"A… promise?"

"Remember? You said you wanted to be like the clouds."

"Oh! Yeah..." in the glow of the moon, I saw her face light up in the corner of my eye.

"So..." I said patiently, turning to look at her. "Do you feel like a cloud yet?"

She could not hold in an oncoming giggle, covering her mouth with a paw to keep from being too loud and possibly transmitting the sound through the walls into the other dorms. "Yes, I do. In a weird, non-literal way, I do."

"See? How could I regret this then?" I laid my head back down. "Forming this team with you is something I could never bring myself to regret. We've made it this far, and I can trust you more than anyone to get even further. For now, that's enough for me."

"…I'm glad to hear you feel that way," she mumbled after a pristine moment of silent sentiment had passed. "I needed to hear that. Just—just remember that I'll always be by your side too. I promise to help you figure out why you were turned into a Pokemon and had your memories stolen. You're right: we're a team, and nothing will change that."

I nodded and smiled. "Deal. And when we accomplish that goal, I'll get you all the chewing twigs you could ever want."

"Just get some sleep, Smugleaf," she scoffed. Still, she could not keep her own smile from carrying over into her tone of voice.

I closed my eyes in peace, my mind having settled enough to allow for exhaustion to take over. There would be plenty to worry about tomorrow, but for now I would embrace the nothingness that accompanied sleep.


	24. East

"Unfortunately, all I've got is this."

After what felt like an eternity of watching Mawile scuffle around through the depths of her office's treasures, she finally snatched up something buried in a storage chest and delicately placed it in my outstretched vine. It was still a bit sore from overuse in today's mission that took Leah and I into a nearby valley to catch a petty outlaw, but the object she handed me wasn't very heavy at all and thus held no burden.

I retracted the green tendril and folded the white stone in my hands, inspecting its dimensions and composition. Nothing really seemed too special about it besides the circular inscription on the face, which was faded but still visible enough to see the flamboyant pattern that made it different from any old rock.

"What am I holding?" I asked her.

"My research shows that this stone here was involved in a human-related event of the past, one that was theoretically apocalyptic." Mawile walked over and took the rock from me again, placing it on a shelf where I assumed it was supposed to be all along. "The details of its story are widely debated, but it is agreed on by most researchers of the Exploration Federation that it is considered a priceless artifact for playing a vital role in this particular event."

"How did you get your hands on it then?"

"Believe me, it wasn't easy," she replied while looking up slightly at the ceiling in recollection of her efforts. "I spent three weeks bribing and begging the owner of an auction house in the Grass Continent to sell it to me, who finally gave in when I offered twice the pay that had been previously offered for it."

I raised an eyebrow. "How did you get the money to do that, if it's so valuable?"

"I took a large portion of the monthly funds normally delegated to the larder, and combined it with some offhand money I had. I told Ampharos, and he didn't mind," she answered with a dismissive shrug. "Now, Swirlix on the other hand... she didn't speak to me for two weeks, and I'm pretty sure she even tried to poison my dinner before finally realizing my typing made me immune to that kind of stuff."

I blinked. "I see... but what does this have to do with me though?"

Mawile paused for a moment before taking off her glasses and dropping them on her desk a few feet away. "Well, like I said, I unfortunately don't have much to show you. The very existence of humans is a widely debated topic, and the different stories of ancient humans saving the world is all the same. The Grass Continent has a version of a human turning into a Pokemon, but the Mist Continent has a completely different telling of the same story, and the Air Continent as well. All of them play out differently and in entirely separate time periods, yet have enough parallels to make the possibility of only one of them being true relevant in the debate as well. The problem is that the recognized scientists and historians of the world are so divided on the matter that it's become an unsolvable mess."

"Wait, humans have turned into Pokemon before me?" I blurted in surprise. "Seriously?"

She grabbed a book and skimmed through its contents, speaking as she did it. "Perhaps they have, perhaps not. I certainly think they have, but as I said, nobody knows for sure, and nobody can really agree whether humans are even real to begin with." She clapped the book shut suddenly, and turned around to look at me. "But there have definitely been claimed records of it happening in the distant past. I've got a few loosely-related documents scattered around here that you're welcome to take a look at as long as you return them intact."

"Thank you," I said with a respectful nod. "You have no idea how much this helps."

The historian returned the nod mutually, and pursed her lips for a moment before replying. "Yes, I can't say I have any idea. I'm willing to bet 'confused' doesn't quite put into perspective what you've been through these past... how long was it again?"

"It's been nearly three months since I woke up as a Pokemon. Something like that."

"I see." She leaned on her desk for support, and rubbed at her baggy eyes. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you come to trust your friend Leah so much then? I'd imagine you were skeptical of anything and everything at first, and yet you act like you've known your Fennekin friend for many years despite only living in this world for a short time."

"Well..." I rubbed the back of my head, a little unsettled by the question. "I'll admit, I've had more than one occasion already where I've doubted that any of this is even real. I was a little weary of some of the Pokemon back in Serene Village at first because of the very thing you just mentioned. But Leah's different, because we were actually enemies for a brief time."

It was Mawile's turn to raise her eyebrows. "Enemies?"

I nodded. "We got in a stupid argument and said some stuff that distanced us, and then she plunged me into a cold river."

"Wow. But how exactly does any of this make her trustworthy?"

"Because," I answered firmly. "During this time, she saved my life from a bunch of Beedrill and Combee when I was lying half-dead in a field. That's when I knew that I had someone who I could trust in this mysterious world. And from there, I began to open up more and more to others about personal stuff like my humanity and my future plans."

Mawile put her hands up defensively, indicating that she had picked up on what was interpreted as mild impatience. "I understand," she said while shooting me a calm stare. "I wasn't implying you shouldn't have been trusting anyone all this time, I was simply curious about how your thought process has functioned since the moment you realized you had no memories. It's not often that one of my stature gets to observe someone's mentality under such controlled circumstances."

"It's all good. Believe me, I'm just as curious about this kind of thing as you are." I replied.

She eyed me for a moment, her examining gaze eventually resting right below my own.

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that scarf?" she said, maintaining her stare at the emerald material around my neck. "I noticed you and your partner arrived with them on, and you always wear them every day. Don't they get dirty or start to smell?"

"My scarf?" I replied, self-consciously resting my hand on the saturating fabric. "Leah gave this to me as a token of our friendship. ...And no, they don't get worn out or anything like that from what I've seen."

"Not to intrude on your personal belongings, but would you mind if I took a look at it?" she pressed, lips slightly parting. "I'm no expert on attire, but even from here I can tell it isn't the average defense scarf or zinc band."

I cocked my head at her odd request, maintaining my hold on the priceless garment. "Well..." I began politely. "I hate to turn you down, but with my memories wiped and all, this is all really helpful—"

We were abruptly interrupted by the angry ring of the mess hall bell that echoed its loud chime through the walls of the compound. Riding the domino effect was my stomach, growling angrily at me for another shipment of its desired product.

"Sounds like it's dinnertime," Mawile said, quickly glancing at the door to her cluttered office and dropping the subject. "You should go. I'm going to finish what I'm doing real quick and then head down after you."

I nodded one last time and made my way out the door, shutting it delicately on the way out. I walked a few steps before turning and peering back at the closed wooden frame to call out a final gratuitous expression. "Oh, and thank you for the help on this. Every bit of information counts."

"It's my pleasure. We'll talk again soon when I'll hopefully have more to supply you with. Oh, and have Ampharos save me some food before Swirlix eats it!" The voice was barely audible through the door that served as the barrier. I turned around once more and started making my way down the smooth stairs, enticed forward by the smell of our piquant daily feast in the cafeteria below.

I slipped through the thick curtain that served as the mess hall's door without a sound, which wouldn't have really mattered anyway since dinner was already well under way and everyone had begun their joking and jabbering. I pinpointed my best friend right away, who was at the end of the table talking with Archen. My seat was saved for me as usual, and I walked over while reaching over the head of an unsuspecting Buizel with a vine to grab a banana from buffet plate in the middle of the table. Peeling and taking a single bite, I reached my chair and plopped down, relaxing my legs and sinking into the cushion as some of the soreness in my limbs found reserve.

"Hey Smugleaf," a mouth-full voice beside me gurgled. "What did Mawile have to say?"

I turned in my chair to face my partner, who had been stuffing herself with a bowl of chesto berries and had the sticky pink juice slathered around her maw to show for it.

"Well," I began, clicking my tongue. "Mawile showed me a rock, and then asked about my memories a bit, and then next thing we knew it was dinnertime."

Leah's ears dropped a little bit. "So, you're saying not much came out of it, huh?" she said in monotone.

"Basically," I answered, taking a giant bite of the closest perfect apple I could grab. "By the sound of it, the existence of humans in this world isn't something that's believed by a vast majority of Pokemon. However, it turns out that there are actually past accounts of humans turning into Pokemon, just as I have."

"Really? That's huge!" Leah exclaimed, her ears quickly perking back up. I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm for a problem that wasn't technically hers.

"It's a place to start," I said with a hopeful shrug. "I don't expect a bunch of information to fall into my lap about it right away, but this at least tells us that what happened to me might not be as exceptional as I thought."

"I still think it's wild that you're actually a human," Archen said, jumping into the conversation. "Like, you just seem so comfortable as a Snivy that no one would guess this isn't your 'usual' form."

As exhibited here, the Society members had reacted about how I expected them to when I told them a summarized version of my story during morning announcements earlier. Apparently last night Mawile had taken Mincinno's advice and gotten some sleep after all, albeit not very much, and was looking a little better in the morning when I told everyone. They were all skeptical at first, but came to terms with it without much friction when the members of Team Carbon recounted what had happened on our mission. To my surprise, everyone had actually been more appalled by the tidbit about the 'demon' rather than my actual confession, indicating that my humanity likely wouldn't become a future issue as far as social standing goes around here. Most of them, particularly the more high-tempo members like Buizel and the chief himself, actually seemed to think it was pretty cool having a real human on board, and I got a couple of positively awed looks and high-fives to boot.

"Like I said, I lost my memories of what it was like to actually be a human. So this technically would be my usual form, since I've never known anything else." I answered after swallowing another juicy bite of fruit.

Archen thought about it and nodded. "That's true. Although still, you've only been a Pokemon for a handful of months and yet you're capable enough physically to work here. It's pretty impres- oh! That reminds me!"

Leah and I shared a brief glance of curiosity as Archen dug his wing into his bag that was carelessly draped over the back of his chair. After a second of digging, he drew out two laminated tickets, which he distributed to the two of us. "Those," he began by pointing to the printed words at the top. "...are Air Continent passports. I bought them for you two today because Ampharos wanted the three of us to run a two-week campaign in the southern region of the continent."

"Two-week campaign?" I inquired.

"Yeah, it's basically like doing the same kind of work we do here, but over on a different continent instead. For things like this the Society will put forward funds so we have just enough for basic food and a bearable place to stay, so that during the day we can pursue the two goals of the Expedition Society: completing missions on the connection orb, and creating a map of the world. The Air Continent does have its own version of a rescue federation, but it's not as widely influential as it probably should be for a continent with so much landmass, and not to mention it's only getting more and more populated as time goes by. We all might find ourselves frequently working over in that area in the next couple of years until they get their shit together."

"What's the Air Continent like?" Leah asked with enticed fervor.

Archen rubbed the back of his head with his wing, glancing at the ceiling and thinking indifferently for a moment. "I... don't suppose it's too different from the Water Continent really, besides the colder climate in the northern regions and the lack of humidity all around. Um- oh! I will say the Air Continent does tend to sport thicker vegetation in its central mass than what you're probably used to seeing around here. I've gotten a good look at it a few times when I've flown over."

Leah seemed to take every bit of information in, visibly growing excited with each passing second. It was no secret to me that she had always desired to visit other lands, and now we were here being provided the opportunity by our feathered colleague. In a more disciplined manner, I nodded my head idly to his words for a couple of seconds until what he said at the end registered.

"Wait, did you say you 'flew' over?"

A giddy grin spawned on Archen's face as she swallowed another berry down. "Remember when I was introducing myself to you two, and I said I had something that would allow me to do what I do?"

Leah and I nodded.

"Well," he continued. "It's actually kinda hard to explain the science behind how I do it, so for that we'd have to have Jirachi tag along with us early tomorrow to the storage basement. He'll still surely be fast asleep, so that's not an option for obvious reasons. I'll instead just have to show it to you myself when it comes time to use it."

"What time are we leaving?" I asked.

"We should try and get out of here right around an hour before you usually wake, so make sure to get to bed early tonight in order to wake up rested and on time."

 _Damn it, I hate waking up early._

I turned to Leah, who was now engrossed with another bowl of her favorite berries, prepared for her specifically by the surprisingly-attentive Swirlix, who seemed to notice every little detail of what went on at the dinner table. I figured she probably wouldn't care too much, being a morning Pokemon and all.

As I turned back to the table to involve myself with a bowl of some kind of delicious fruit, I felt myself intrigued by the thought of visiting another continent. I had a recurring memory of what land masses and oceans were, but any specific instances were wiped from my mind just as everything else that was detail-oriented was. So in a way, crossing the ocean would be a first-time thing for me whether it actually was or not. I just hoped the gastric solutions in my stomach credited to being a cold-blooded snake wouldn't cause me to become seasick. This kind of traveling was something I would be doing often, after all.

* * *

I was barely present in the dusty basement, letting out a yawn every handful of seconds as I ineffectively tried to get a grasp on the waking reality of the early morning. Leah and I were waiting on Archen to pack the last of his mysterious contraption into the hefty pack slung over his neck, which he finally got through with only after a bit of careful manipulation of his available storage space. I didn't really get a good look at it, but from what I saw it was too intricate and complicated to be thoroughly processed at this time of day anyway. I saw some kind of strap-on-belt that had four sail-like appendages extending symmetrically from its base, two to either side. A fifth extended upward from the back end, resembling a tail fin. I hardly managed to get a glance in since Archen was already beginning to disassemble it into multiple parts for the sake of travel by the time I'd arrived down in the basement. Unlike me, Leah was wide awake and trying to make sense of the thing.

"Like I said," the flightless bird grunted as he pulled the pack closed over its bulging contents and hauled it up off the ground. "All of this may look like junk, but it lets me glide through the air a lot longer than I would normally be able to with just my wings. Now, are you two ready to get going?"

"Yeah, we got enough food for a couple days," Leah told him, patting the bag that was slung around my shoulder. "We can get more there, right?"

Archen nodded and gestured for us to follow him back up to the first floor. "Yeah, we'll be docking in a place called Barem Town, and we'll move on south from there. There aren't many settlements inhabiting the mountainous area that we've been called to, but Barem Town will be able to provide any traveling needs of ours."

We continued up the stairs to the top, where Archen pushed the heavyset door open the reveal the right-wing hallway of the compound's first floor. The three of us strolled down into the lobby room, which was lit by the artificial lights installed in the walls warding away the lingering darkness of the early-early morning. Ampharos was waiting at the door, and looked up as we approached.

"Ah, there you three are," he greeted, the last syllable finishing as part of a yawn that lasted several seconds. "Are you all packed and prepared?"

"Yes sir," Archen confirmed with a nod, before pulling out his gadget and pulling up the map. I hadn't really paid much attention to the continents on the map besides the Water Continent ever since Jirachi hooked up our gadgets to the Nexus Atlas yesterday, so it was only now that I realized how crudely the others were digitally drawn on there. By the looks of it, the Society hadn't made much progress on their grand map thus far, at least not in regards to the size of the entire planet.

Archen placed his wing on the display and pointed with his claw at the southern tip of the vague outline of the Air Continent. "This area, right chief?"

"I believe so," Ampharos said. "This area isn't as widely populated as most of the continent is, so the Air Continent officials haven't delegated any assets over there. That's why we've gotten a call from a local who runs a village nestled in a valley complaining about the lack of help when someone gets hurt or lost, and requesting that we send someone in since the Air Rescue Federation situated over in Pokémon Square wouldn't."

Interesting. So this meant that the Expedition Society was pretty well known after all, even internationally. It made me feel kind of special, to be honest, being part of such an exclusive group. Even if I wasn't necessarily overwhelmed by the outward appearances and capabilities of the members right off the bat, the fact that we got a call from an isolated spot across the ocean told that the work this group had done in the past was nothing to kid about.

"Awesome," Archen said with finality, powering off the gadget and squeezing it back into his crowded pack. "I'll call in when we get to Barem Town."

"Wonderful!" Ampharos said with an energetic clap of his hands. His gaze shifted to Leah and I, and he smiled warmly. "I trust neither of you have ever visited another continent before?"

"Nope!" Leah answered with stars in her eyes. "This is gonna be so cool!"

Suddenly realizing something, I asked out of nowhere, "How do we get across the ocean? Do we have a boat?"

"You'll take the Lapras Liner," Ampharos answered with an amused chuckle. "We plan to purchase a private vessel one day to traverse through stormy weather, but until then we use the ferry service internationally run by a company of Lapras, for carrying around Pokemon, and Castform, for scouting the weather."

My eyes widened. "So we'll be riding on the back of a live water Pokemon? That sounds... cool, I guess?"

"Cool?" Leah exclaimed excitedly, jumping in place. "More like amazing! We're gonna ride on a Lapras across the ocean. That's something I've always wanted to do!"

"Well then you'd best get going before you wake everyone up," Ampharos laughed. "I'll await your call, Archen."

Archen nodded, and with a parting salute to the chief, pushed open the door to the humid outside air and gestured for us to follow.

"Ah, this is gonna be the best trip ever!" Leah said.

* * *

"This is the worst trip ever... uugghhh..."

Leah sat on the edge of Lapras's shell, peering down at the water. I could see how pale her face had gotten even under her warm pallet of fur, and silenced an amused chuckle at my hilariously nauseous partner. Apparently my fears of seasickness striking were fulfilled after all, only against Leah rather than myself. It made sense after all, her being a fire-type crossing an expanse of nothing but water in all directions. Unlike her, I personally found the experience to be relaxing, even relishing in the rhythm from the faint rocking motion of the waves on our warm-blooded vessel.

"Doing okay over there Leah?" Archen asked. "Heh, you look like you're gonna puke."

"Please, no throwing up on my shell," Lapras commanded with desperation. "I have no way of cleaning it on my own."

"You know Leah, I'm usually the one who's green around here. What gives?" I teased.

"Urrghh, that- that isn't funny," she moaned, before coughing twice and staring back over the edge.

I grinned mischievously. "Seriously, for a second I thought you'd pulled your scarf up over your face like a bandana."

She shot me a dangerous glare, only to break it so she could retch up nothing over the side again. Archen and I gave into our amusement and laughed at the joke, with Leah's initial excitement from roughly an hour before making it even funnier.

"I'd burn you both right now if- urk! If I didn't feel too shitty to breathe fire... ugh..."

"Ahh, that's a good one Sage," Archen said to me, then turning to Leah. "But don't worry about your nausea, Leah. It's not like it's a rare thing. You should've been there for Bunnelby's first sea voyage... hoo boy, he hated it so much that he actually considered just staying on the continent we were visiting instead of coming back to the Society. But he got over it eventually. It just took several times crossing the ocean to get used to everything."

"I don't wanna do this several times..." Leah groaned, rubbing her stomach with conviction. "Hey, Lapras. Are we there yet?"

"We've been sailing for half an hour," Lapras answered bluntly.

"How- how long will it be?"

"Fortunately Barem Town isn't too far from Lively Town, as they are both aligned on coastlines facing each other, so we should be there in about... I'd say around eighteen hours."

Leah gagged in disbelief. "Eighteen hours?!"

"If we're lucky," Lapras added.

"Wh- that's- ugh... that's like a day though..."

I tuned out of the conversation, intending to take a nap under the soothing back-and-forth motion that was currently proving to be more of a curse to my dearest friend. I laid my head down on the shell and curled up, resting that way and thinking myself to sleep. Within my idle thoughts I found myself pondering what was going on back at Serene Village now that it had been almost a week since our unannounced departure. It shocked me how long ago it already felt, as if I'd been at the Society for just as long as I'd been in Serene Village. It felt like a betrayal of where I'd come from, to equate the time spent there to the handful of moments I'd had over by the coastline, even if those moments had been an adventure of their own thus far. I wondered if my friends still thought about Leah and I, and if they were looking for us. The realistic side of me wished they didn't, that we wouldn't have to worry about any surprise encounters with a group of them while out on a job, only to have to turn down a request for our unconditional return. The thought of such a confrontation worried me, as it was very possible that it could end up turning violent. I certainly didn't want to hurt anyone from back there, and I know for a fact that Leah didn't either, and yet we couldn't just get dragged back and away from the new life we were making.

The selfish part of me, on the other hand, made the thought of seeing some of my friends again much more appealing with all negatives cast aside. I at least wanted to apologize to some of them, but even that would put a lot on the line.

In the end, I'd just have to forget and move on.

* * *

It always unnerved the psychic-type to no end when a dark-type would sneak up on her. She knew it wasn't always intentional, and thus hard to label as sneaking at all, but regardless it certainly felt that way to her whenever such an interaction came about. She had come to rely so casually on her acute ability to sense those around her and sometimes even peer into the edges of their minds to steal glimpses at their idle thoughts, that it would always throw her off the slightest bit when that inherited power would hit a rock wall upon contact with dark's natural immunity that left her psychic abilities useless. Fortunately there weren't many dark-types around Serene Village, in part due to the customary blitheness that credited the quaint settlement its name. The ghosts living under the rotten tree were the only exception, and even they had been coming out more often and doing nice things for the villagers since the fight in the Ancient Barrow.

This explained why her cool and one-step-ahead persona was momentarily cancelled as she jumped in place at the sound of a voice she wouldn't have really expected to hear anyway.

"Hey, kiddo. I reckon you got a minute?"

Espurr gathered together her typical demeanor and turned her gaze from the expanse of valley stretching before her, a sight she had gotten to enjoy many times up on this hill standing under the big tree. Nuzleaf strolled over and leaned against the tree, closing his eyes for a moment to take in the influence of the shade it provided from the hammering sunlight. Espurr, standing a dozen feet away at the edge of the hill's ascension, now turned her whole body to face the newcomer, and looked him over with mild curiosity.

"Mister Nuzleaf," she remarked with a nod of greeting. "How are you today?"

"I'm doin' fine, I suppose. What about you?" he said with a medium of indifference. Espurr almost habitually tried to mentally read into his emotions as he said it to try and decipher if the simple answer was really supposed to feel as as nonchalant as it sounded, before realizing it would just be ineffective for the same reason she hadn't detected Nuzleaf's approaching presence up the hill. Espurr sensed no threatening or concerning activity in his visible and audible actions, however, so she relaxed and deferred to make normal conversation.

"I'm just enjoying the wonderful weather," Espurr said back, matching his casual tone.

Nuzleaf emerged from the shade and walked up to stand a few feet to her left to take in the view for, unbeknownst to Espurr, one of the first times since his arrival here. He cast an idle glance to his right, to look not at the youth psychic-type with him but instead at the giant mountain in the distance. Only then did Espurr notice the slightest tension in him, catching his lip tighten up on the edge of her vision. Was he looking at a particular mountain, or was he just staring off into the range?

"Storm's comin' from the east, I heard," he said gruffly. "Should pass through the mountains before long."

"Good," Espurr mused. "We need rain."

"Hm. I reckon we do. My leaf-head is getting dried out these days." Nuzleaf glanced to his right again, but this time down at the young psychic. "How have your friends been gettin' by these days?"

Espurr's attention was piqued by the odd question asked of her. It naturally got her thinking, about how Pancham and Shelmet were still grinding at their typical pranking schemes and how Deerling and Goomy were still enjoying life by getting stronger and relaxing on this summer break.

"They're doing fine," Espurr determined. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wonderin'," Nuzleaf mumbled with a well-muffled sigh. Espurr had never been one to miss things, however, and was picking up on the grass-dark-type's vivid dejection more clearly now.

Now Espurr herself sighed, not bothering to hide it. She stared out at the hill's view and decided to cut to the chase before her visitor could work his way there.

"What's this about Nuzleaf?"

It was rhetorical. She was fairly certain she already knew.

Nuzleaf furrowed his brow and shook his head subtly. "I miss that kid," he murmured just barely loud enough for the psychic-type feline to hear. He seemed almost reluctant to say it, like the very thought of it put him down.

"Do you think the Beeheyem got him?" Espurr asked after a moment of awkward silence, before clamping her mouth shut and internally chastising herself. She had really never been one to consistently think of the negative proportions of a situation, and certainly never one to start stressing over worst-case possibilities. When it came to her mental activity, she stayed focused and emotionless in order to keep thorough analysis a priority. That had always been her constant, or it had been up until recently. She certainly didn't want to admit that she'd been exploring the possibility in her head ever since the moment she'd woken to find most of the villagers in a hurried panic, in fear of further worrying her downcast neighbor.

But to her surprise, Nuzleaf dropped the crestfallen attitude he dragged up the hill with him and paired a definitive answer with a shake of his head. "No, I have full faith that they're doin' fine. Sage may not have been with us for but a couple of months, but I reckon I got to know him well enough that I can be certain he'd gone out prepared. And I reckon Leah's just as capable on top of that."

Espurr wasn't quite sure what to make of this. She had anticipated that she would either be recruited for a dangerous rescue mission that would aim to turn the hunter into the hunted, or that she would simply be sought out as a consultant. She was the only other Pokemon besides Nuzleaf still left at Serene Village to actually know about the Beeheyem, so either request made sense, right? Espurr honestly wished she could just read the wily Pokemon's mind and figure out why she was being deliberated on this admittedly-sensitive topic.

"What about you? Do miss him too?" Nuzleaf inquired.

"We all do. It's only natural." Her answer was impulsive, born from what she'd been telling herself since he'd left.

"Yeah, but..." Nuzleaf gestured down toward the distant lake stretching before them at the foot of the hill, where they could see the entire village and then some in its full glory. He pointed at the plaza, specifically, where Espurr could, with narrowed eyes, make out the faint outlines of her classmates playing some sort of game. The sight of them enjoying each other's company only made her narrow her eyes further. They were playing as if everything was normal, as if nothing had changed. Nuzleaf was just as observant as she was today, and it would be him picking up on her demeanor this time. "Why aren't you down there with them?"

"I'm just up here thinking, that's all. Can I help you with something?" Partially to her own dismay, Espurr was beginning to get annoyed. It wasn't like her to let her emotions show, and it only frustrated her even more when she couldn't get a grip on herself. It had been like this the past few days...

"Look, kiddo... I know you got pretty close with him. And maybe even Leah too. It wasn't no secret to none of the villagers."

Espurr raised her eyebrows, but did not look at him. "I was one of his friends, yes."

"Don't be modest," Nuzleaf insisted. "You've been more—argh, dagnabbit what's the word... more _radiant_ ever since that kid showed up."

Espurr still wouldn't look at him. "...What?"

"It's true," Nuzleaf continued with unabridged conviction in his voice. "You've shown more of a tendency to get out and be social, which everyone has surely gone and noticed. In case you hadn't picked up on it, and I reckon you had, this ain't a very populated village. Everyone tends to pick up on these things."

Espurr gave it some thought. Nuzleaf's words held a certain truth to them, she knew. Denying it to herself was a losing battle. Whether it was her intrigue for the former human, or maybe for his quirky personality, or for how quickly he'd grown attached to her and the entire village... she had gravitated towards him because of it.

He was such a strange person.

And she missed him.

"...You actually can help me with something, actually," Nuzleaf spoke up. "If you don't mind, I could steadily use your companionship to Lively Town. Maybe we'll, ah... run into him on the way, you reckon?" The leaf-headed Pokemon rubbed the top of his head and grinned at her. "How good're you at hiking?"

Espurr only had to think for a moment. So _that's_ what Nuzleaf wanted.

A tiny smile crossed her face. "...This girl can handle herself."


	25. Tangibles

Chapter 25 - Tangibles

From my resting position near the base of Lapras's neck I craned my own to the side in order to see the horizon of the Air Continent. I stared humbly at the extremity until it grew into an animated streak of civilization, the colors and details of the distant buildings shifting into focus for me to pick apart. It was a rejuvenating sight in light of an unprecedented weather interruption through the ocean-gulf that tacked on an extra eight-ish hours to Lapras's initial estimation. The detour was necessary to avoid some kind of stirring not too far ahead of our arced path, which Lapras had been told of by one of her Castform weathercasters via the wireless communicator in her ear. It wasn't a huge deal to Archen and I, with the chance of running into angry skies and angrier seas being more than enough to petition a bit of our patience.

Leah, who was still stuck on the wrong end of an upset stomach, was not at all happy with the news of a further-elongated voyage across the sea. She had spent the first portion of the trip bundled up in a complete mess, leaning over the edge unable to find ease within herself. She eventually gave up on that notion once a few fruitless hours had passed by, resorting to merely doing her best to get accustomed with the circumstances. She forced herself to curl up against one of Lapras's cylindrical spikes to try and allow for the water's motion to become custom, letting out a discontented moan every now and then to indicate that nothing she tried was working.

Amusement and pity alike were natural feelings that I felt for her unfavorable situation, both being drowned out by the unavoidable conclusion that her only option was to get used to this. Not only would we be taking the exact same voyage back to the Water Continent in half a month, when we'd surely be much more fatigued and homesick as is, but it was easy to assume that we would be sailing all over the world with no real end to our global traveling marked on the calendar. It was our job, after all, to make a map of the whole planet, and swimming or flying across the ocean ourselves were two options that were practically redundant to even mention as future possibilities. I was fairly certain neither of us evolved to have sturdy wings or the uncharacteristic ability to swim across endless miles of saltwater, so that basically left us here with our buoyant friend Lapras.

Archen and I had spent the entire day of sailing mostly just minding ourselves, occasionally sharing a comment or a joke to pass the time. I tried to use this blank stretch to get out of the flightless bird what his little contraption was supposed to do, but he just left me hanging with a grin and a, "don't worry, you'll find out". Whatever; there was plenty else to think about out here on the open water.

Lapras had informed us of the weather issues just as the sun was setting, indicating that we weren't going to be as lucky after all and could expect to spend a full night out here opposed to our anticipated arrival a few hours before first light.

Even after doing nothing but spending the day resting, thinking, and occasionally reading into Jirachi's book on abilities to look for something that could benefit me, I still dropped straight into a slumber not long after darkness claimed the sky. I only hoped Leah had found enough solace to do the same, as it would be awfully ridiculous to be slowed down by sleepless fatigue that had built up when we weren't doing anything other than sitting around. Whether she actually had fallen asleep or not, she made it clear the next morning that she was ready for it to be over when her exhilarated spirit was resurrected by the prospect of placing her paws back on solid ground.

Now, as I stretched off the edge as far as I could while holding onto Lapras, I was able to take in the cultural particulars that appertained to Barem Town. The first thing I saw, as it could be inferred would be what anyone would first see, was the cardinally massive windmill that loomed over the hilltop settlement. The four extensions of its spinning apex ran their course through the air slowly but surely, presumably giving the town energy and definitely giving the signature construction a story of animation. Just one of the gradually-spinning wings was easily as large as a majority of the overshadowed buildings that had been built on the environmentally-refined hill, where it seemed that land had been carved out horizontally on several ascending levels for the sake of living on even ground.

Aside from the paths and stories carved into the hill, there were rather slim changes applied to the natural environment as seen in the blanket of grass that dominated the entire exterior of the settlement and effectively screamed its ecological affinity. Contrasting this overwhelming green was the triangular patterns colored onto the flaps that displayed desaturated shades of yellow, blue, and red, accompanied by the occasional white triangle as well. A half-dozen smaller windmills were scattered around and lifted these colors above the more explosive pallet of grass.

As our distance from the dock closed, I could begin to make out the species of various Pokemon going about their day. A few of them further up the hill noticed our approach, and either stared or waved. I turned around with an impressed grin to get my friends' attention, finding them both fast asleep on opposite sides of Lapras's shell.

"Archen! Leah! Look!" With a crack of a vine in midair, their heads simultaneously shot up from their resting positions. I gave them a moment to wipe the grit from their eyes and gather their bearings before I pointed at our destination. "We're here!"

Leah's gaze crested the water's edge and took in the hill extending up from the gulf where we were headed. I stared back at it too, sharing the view from a few feet in front of her while Archen moaned in the face of the morning light. He popped his beak lazily and blinked away the last of the dew that had settled in before glancing in our direction.

His eyes widened at the sight, and he fixed his legs to position himself for a better view. "Oh- we're here! Time really does fly when you're asleep."

"Woah, check that windmill out!" Leah beamed with excitement that overshadowed her previous discomfort. "That's incredible!"

"It's one of the biggest around, that's for sure." Archen was now standing opposite of me, craning his head over Lapras's other side while Leah wobbled over to look over my shoulder for a better view. But thanks to Lapras's brisk pace gliding through the water, we were already upon the settlement's baroque dock, located on an outcropping island that was connected to the hill-town with a short bridge. It was here that we could hop right off onto stable ground once more.

Leah dropped down and gave the dock a quick peck, comically whispering, "I missed you," to it before hopping back up with the fire in her eyes reignited. With most of the color already returned to her face, she let out an empowered bark and pumped her paw in the air. "Alright guys! I'm all good!"

Archen followed suit jumping onto the wooden planks, where another morning's yawn escaped his beak. I was right behind them on the transition from rocking vessel to stable ground, and nearly stumbled when my short legs failed to immediately adjust.

Archen had his gadget out right away, and pulled up the map to show us where we would be heading. "Again, the plan is to head south down into the mountains here." He pointed his wing to the same spot he had showed us before. "-where there's a small village in this valley here that's awaiting our arrival." He glanced up at the hill, where more Pokemon were beginning to flow from their homes to engage in their routine commerce. "We can run a quick circuit around town to get some things we might need, and then start heading south. We can be there by nightfall if we hustle."

None of us had any alternatives or objections, so Leah and I nodded understanding before our group split into thirds for the time being. I was hoping to get a better look at the marvel of engineering that stood as the town's uncontested centerpiece before we headed out, which was the first place I jogged off to once we had made our way up the ascending path. Leah decided to use her time differently, heading into a shop that caught her eye where I was certain I would have to eventually enter after her in order to drag her out. We didn't have much money as it was, but I didn't see that deterring her from obsessing with the souvenirs and cultural commodities that differed from that of the Water Continent. This was the first trip across the ocean for both of us, after all, so it wasn't hard to justify our shared interest in what this coastal hill-town had to offer its tourists. This curiosity was not exerted by our feathered colleague, however, as Archen regarded the place as though it was an average town that he ran through weekly to get his groceries. Without hardly looking around, he instead found a nice spot on a roadside bench to enjoy the chestnut cobbler he purchased from a merchant he knew from past encounters.

The windmill was just as impressive up close as it was looking at it from out on the water. Standing under it gave me a whimsical feeling of minuteness, and I gaped up at the sight. It was colossal, rooted into the ground with one eternal goal and the powers of nature helping chase it. And I was so small, with the power of nature evidently stacked against me on this twisting journey of mine. I would continue to stare up at it in silence, my face reclusive and my mind eventually settling on speculating what the next two weeks would be like. Being tuned out of reality like this was primarily what allowed someone to approach me without my immediate recognition.

"It's a marvel, truly," the voice at my side mused, shattering my short-lived trance.

I cast a leery glance to my right, and found myself staring at a large Pokemon whose image didn't at all fit the scholar-like voice he wielded. Three black heads extending from a levitating body stared up where I had just been looking, before descending to meet my gaze. I had to stop myself from gaping at the unique body structure that left his immediate intentions practically unreadable. The red and blue colorations on his central-body made me instantly think he was a dragon, but that didn't seem quite right. I hadn't met many dragon-types who's first impression was one of disarmament, much less any who actually tried to conduct themselves that way. Goomy was the exception, but even he was supposedly going to evolve into something spectacular one day. This fellow, with uncanny defiance toward my expectations, bore no resemblance to this stereotype with his triple-serving of a toothy grin and the bewitching stare from the central head.

"Uh, yes," I answered, trying to silence the bewilderment that threatened to make itself known through my voice. "It's very... interesting. Do these windmills power the whole town?"

The stranger rubbed the chin of his central head with his left arm, which was one of the weirdest things I had ever witnessed considering his left arm had a face of its own. "I imagine they do meet the sine qua non of the electrical and aquatic systems designed in the buildings and homes here. Although I do not live in this town myself, I have beheld a sundry of technologies designed with the intention of redistributing energy, and I'll vouch that the work of art before our eyes is one of the most popular and cost-effective designs in this part of the world."

Something was off about this guy. The way he conducted himself, specifically the way he spoke, didn't at all add up to what a Pokemon of his species would normally be tailored for. My first inclination was to think that he was a street marketer, but I ruled that out when I saw that he held no belongings on him, floating around without a bag or apparel of any kind. Maybe he was a thief or a kidnapper playing his innocence card to get close? That Krookodile back in Lively Town was enough proof that there were Pokemon in these populated areas who relished in their unlawful actions, so I knew I couldn't trust this guy just strolling up to me. I tensed my legs and shoulders ever-so-slightly, not willing to fall under my guard against the unknown intentions of this strange newcomer.

The dragon noticed my visual prying instantly and chuckled, spreading his two arm-heads and continuing to give me three wide smiles. "How rude of me for my rash approach," he said. "My name is Hydreigon; I am just an erudite traveler. It is a pleasure to meet you."

He extended one of his arms. I wrapped half a loop of a vine around it and shook in greeting, making sure not to poke or slide across the face on the end.

"My name is Sage. It's nice to meet you Hydreigon."

"Well, Sage, what brings you to Barem Town?" he asked as I retracted the vine back into my shoulder blade.

I listened intently for any sign of ill-intention in his voice, but still found none. A red flag shot up that he was asking me that despite admitting to not living here, but I ignored it to keep myself from seeming paranoid.

Without wavering an inch, I answered his question indifferently. "Just here on a little trip for a school project on other cultures. Nothing big."

"Ah, I see," I heard him voice with a pint of interest. I had no reason to assume that the lie didn't succeed with his relatively-monotone response, so I eased up an little further in his presence for the sake of engaging in fluent conversation. He clucked his tongue and nodded affirmatively. "It is wonderful to see this world's youth pining to learn about the ways of others. It is amazing how just a bit of relative education can bring differing communities together to harmonize, no?"

 _I just told him I'm doing a school project, and yet he's talking to me as if I'm a fully-matured adult, like Ampharos or Carracosta. What is up with this guy?_

"I suppose so," I shrugged, glancing back up at the windmill's hypnotic spinning to avoid his gaze in the most casual manner I could muster. He followed my gaze upwards, and said nothing. A moment of what felt to me like consideration passed before he spoke again.

"I don't mean to pry, but would your class happen to have studied the design painted above us on the sails?"

My attention shifted to the triangular patterns above on the windmill blades' flowing fabric. The three primary colors circled through the air in their eternal loop, and I had began to open my mouth for another nonchalant reply when I noticed something peculiar. From further away on Lapras's back, I could only make out two dimensions of the sails, so of course I wouldn't have thought their design to be anything other than a flat piece of cloth covering the space between the lightweight poles that extended from the central axis. By standing directly under them, however, I could see better how the colored threads had been tied in a horizontal fashion that was difficult to decipher the exact pattern of just by staring at a moving target. It almost looked like two fabrics had been woven into one body that was slanted in on itself rather than just being one flat product.

What made this particular design worth paying attention to at all was how the colors conjoined and contracted as the angle I viewed them at constantly changed with the circular motion. Whether building the sails in this compounded fashion actually assisted in its efficiency was something I wouldn't know, but it definitely made for a cool-looking artifice. The three colors flowed into the scattered white triangles in a straight line before extending across it evenly to form three triangular rays out the other side. Then the sail would circle out of sight and the same trick of the eyes would repeat itself on the next.

"No, we haven't," I claimed. It technically wasn't a lie since I had never studied anything back in Serene Village that would equate to the art that I was seeing now, not that I found any remorse in keeping my intentions reserved from this random stranger.

Hydreigon gestured up above with one of his arm-heads, the mouth and eyes on the end of it being lazily stimulated by the temperate motion. "You see the optical illusion occurring up there?" he voiced with piqued interest. "It is believed by some to originate from a primordial civilization that long ago dominated the entirety of the Grass Continent. They worshipped the goddess of light, and strived to spread her scripture of love and life throughout the known world." In one sudden motion, the six black appendages on his backside thrashed downwards, and the was dragon lifted several body-lengths off the ground to get a better view for himself. "The primary colors enter here through the prism, and extend outward to dictate all life." He looked down at me and smiled sheepishly. "...or so it is told, ha!"

I rubbed the back of my head for a moment to contemplate, taken aback by the generously unprecedented history lesson that was just dropped on my head. I smacked my lips in response to the patient gaze that the educational dragon was giving me, and nodded at him hesitantly.

That little sign of enlightenment was enough for him, apparently, because he shot me another enticed triple-grin and pivoted right back into his lesson. Floating up further, he was now right under the path of the windmill's turn and was diligently inspecting the pattern of the blades as they drew close to him. "See right here? The yellow coloring is intended to represent the beginning of life and the ramifications of a newborn's shining beauty and potential."

Then he floated a bit to his left, eyeing another blade as it slowly passed by him at an almost-horizontal angle. "The blue you see is the content of life; the budding of this shining potential and the defined axioms that give it coherency."

He flew to his right and up a bit, continuing to pick at the details from angles that I couldn't hope to with my restricted anatomy. "And the red represents an end to life: the conclusion of the soul's influence and the transition into new life where the cycle would continue ad infinitum."

He went silent for a moment before wrapping the tangent up. "...And finally, the white triangle. The prism. It represents the goddess of light: the energy that channels through this planet's veins and arteries. The roots of the Tree of Life."

My mind, in a way, was mimicking the Hydreigon's inability to sit still and remain collected. I was at a loss at what most of that rambling was supposed to mean, understanding the basic premise but failing to comprehend the circumstantial references that he was stretching to make. Again I found myself thinking: who even is this dude? What's his deal?

"O-kay..." I said, unsuccessfully taking it all in. I couldve just left it at that, but I decided I'd continue the conversation for the sake of being polite. And because I was curious if his gallivanting actually held any merit that I could learn of. "Yes, that's very, um, interesting. But if you don't mind me asking, what does some ancient symbolism have to do with this windmill? It's- well, it's just a windmill; one that's been built in more modern times, right? And we aren't even on the Grass Continent."

"Ah, those are valid points young one," Hydreigon nodded with some consideration granted my way. "But the architect who designed this town, on the other hand, was born and raised there. He engaged in extensive studying into his remote ancestors, and discovered this civilization in his blood."

The dragon rubbed his chin for a moment to think. "I do believe he is the standing mayor of Barem Town still, although I am aware he is growing along in years. You could consult him if you so desired to learn more..." He paused to shoot me yet another smile, except that this one was unexpectedly level-headed and gave me the ominous feeling that he could see right through me. "...you know, for your school project. Anyway, it seems I must be off to run a pressing errand, but I do hope we meet again Sage."

"Right, thanks," I said, already beginning to turn around and make my way back to where I had seen Archen sitting.

 _That was awkward... I don't think I'm that into windmills anymore._

Archen saw me from a ways away and hailed me down with a raised wing. He tossed the empty bowl he had been eating from at a waste bin and got up from his seat, not caring that the container missed its target by about two feet.

"Mmm, this place always has good food," he mumbled satisfyingly to himself with a tasteful smack of his beak. He looked at me, and then glanced around questioningly. "Hey, do you know where Leah ran off to?"

"Yeah," I sighed, shaking my head. "I saw her in some kind of shop. I'll go ge-"

"I'm right here!" I heard her voice call. Archen and I looked to our left to find the yellow and orange vixen bounding over to us. An jubilant grin was plastered on her face and drew an arcing underscore to the white flower nestled in her right ear. She poked at it idly as soon as she reached us, as though it was difficult to notice despite sticking out as plain as day. "I got this over at that little place over there by the fountain! It only cost me eight-hundred Poké."

I did a double-take and scowled when the price registered. "Seriously?" I challenged. "Eight-hundred just for a useless accessory?"

She shook her head in defiance. "Nuh-uh! It's not useless, watch!" She plucked it out of her ear and spun it around, revealing a piece of plastic embedded onto the end of the stem. She pushed on the back of it slightly, and a tiny conic point jutted out with a clicking sound. "See!" she said proudly. "It's a pen too! Cool, right?"

I shut my eyes and shook my head, before taking the flower-pen out of her outstretched paw and delicately placing it back in her ear. "Whatever," I sighed. "Can you try not to go spending our money on trivial things like this? At least wait until we're a bit richer."

"Yeah, remember that you still owe me for the Lapras Liner passes too," Archen chimed in.

Leah and I widened our eyes at what he said, and Archen cracked up at our reaction.

"I'm just messing with you!" he chuckled. "Those can be on me." We both sighed in relief, but he wasn't done. "However..." he added. "You'll have plenty of cartography and rescue campaigns on other continents as well, so you'll need to purchase your own passes for those."

Something moved irregularly through my peripherals, and I momentarily tensed up before realizing it was just something far away in the sky. I was about to write it off as just an outlying bird Pokemon gliding along with the wind when further observation revealed that 'falling' would've been a more accurate term to use.

"Aw, can't Ampharos just-"

A vine tapping on Leah's shoulder stopped her mid-sentence, and she looked at me questioningly before following my gaze toward the northeastern skyline. Archen was only a half-second behind us, barely looking in time to see the aerial body cross the horizon and collide with the trees in the path of its crash course. A loud crashing sound was produced from the impact that could be heard distinctly from our position a couple miles away.

"What the- what the hell was that?!" Archen exclaimed as the three of us ran toward the edge of the bridge to get a better view. We couldn't see much since the crash's aftermath was concealed by a thick canopy of green, but we didn't really need to see much in order to understand that something must have gone very wrong. Roughly a dozen Pokemon hanging out around this side of the hill-town rushed over to get a look for themselves as well, drawn in by the crashing sound of a fast-moving target connecting violently with the earth.

"Blimey! What was that?" the Pokemon nearest to us, a Skorupi, muttered under his breath.

"Was that a meteor?" someone towards the back bellowed.

"Someone's crashed!" an odd fungus-shaped Pokemon that I'd never seen before cried out.

"Bzz! Wh-what do we do? Page the local rescue team?" another Pokemon near us, this one a Mothim, buzzed uncertainly.

The Skorupi scoffed at the suggestion. "I guess that's all we can do, not that it really makes a bloody difference. It'll take those lazy bastards all day to even get over here, never mind actually entering the Mystifying Forest to rescue someone."

Most of the Pokemon in the group of observers nodded their approval, making me wonder if something in particular was wrong with the rescue teams around here. I could still clearly recall Archen's critical description of the reproaching rescue efforts in the Air Continent as of late. An unexpected population rise and a sparse roster of capable squads to accommodate the growing number of civilians was something I'd call a recipe for disaster. I could only imagine that the citizens living here were getting tired of it.

I shot Archen a suggestive glance, gesturing slightly towards the forest we were overlooking with a sideways tip of my head. He got the message without a problem and, without really needing to think about it, nodded twice. Leah glanced back and forth between us, and flicked her ears indicative that she was on board as well.

Archen moved over to the edge of the bridge and raised his wings in the air. "Everyone, attention! Attention please!" The group of about two dozen, which had gradually grown as more Pokemon made their way over to check out the loud noise,  
halted their hushed speculation at Archen's request. The flightless bird gave them all on quick glance-over, and adjusted the strap on his bag so he could comfortably stand up a little taller, and also so his badge could be easier seen by everyone in the crowd. "It seems like someone has crash-landed in the woods over there. Fortunately, the three of us work for the Expedition Society in Lively Town. We'd be more than willing to go check it out."

"How much is that gonna cost us?" a Pignite in the crowd grouched at us with narrowed eyes.

Archen tilted his head in mild confusion. "Cost?" he echoed. "No repayment is necessary for something like this, especially not from any of you who aren't involved to begin with. Why would there be?"

The Skorupi in front furrowed his spiked brow and nodded slowly. "You would think so," he said. "But Team Smackers, the only team designated to Barem Town, tends to see things differently."

Again more nods and grumbled agreement came from the crowd. "More like 'Team Slackers'," I heard one of them grumble under his breath, earning a few amused sounds from some of the other bystanders.

"Well-" Archen began awkwardly. "I see. That's unfortunate to hear." He suddenly stood up taller and half-glanced back at the woods for a brief moment. "But as I said, we'll go check it out free of charge, and do what we can to help whoever it is that needs rescuing."

The Skorupi turned around to speak with a few of the Pokemon in the group for a few seconds, until they finally reached what sounded like a conclusion. The purple poison-type faced us with an inquisitive look on his face. "Okay Archen, Snivy, and Fennekin of the Expedition Society. It sounds like a plan. Thank you for your help."

Archen nodded. "Just doing our job." He then turned to Leah and I and smirked. "I guess our work over here is starting early, huh?"

* * *

The jog through the woods was nothing new for us, with the exception of a few wild Pokemon that Leah and I had never seen before on the Water Continent. Fortunately for the time necessity of our abruptly-accepted mission, none of the Pokemon here were very strong, many of them being grass and poison types that fell like dominoes from the relentless force of Leah's flamethrower and psybeam. Archen let me take point at first, but I had quickly caught on to the average typing of our aggressors and vouched for my partner to lead instead, which proved to be a beneficial idea since she could engulf approaching enemies in flames long before they could get to us.

She actually managed to maintain her self-control this time, not rushing off ahead starving for adventure like she had always exhibited a tendency to do. It was only when we neared clearing in question that she bounded ahead at the first sign of disturbed vegetation.

I cringed at the sight of the damage, hoping that whatever had fallen wasn't a live Pokemon. A number of trees had been entirely uprooted and snapped in splintered chunks to fall and hang off of other trees. Much of the damage had been reduced to walking level and had effectively created an unstable jungle gym of organic obstacles for us to carefully maneuver through. Any living thing, large or small, that caused this much damage from a crash-landing could very well have succumbed to their injuries from the impact the moment it happened. Even if that wasn't the case, and I sure hoped it wasn't, they'd be more than lucky to have made it out of this alive, let alone ever take to the skies again.

After shoving aside one final heavily-splintered branch with the swipe of a vine, I emerged into a clearing with a giant crater in the center, which Leah was already standing on the edge of and staring down into. Archen was on my heels, and froze in place when he laid eyes on what we were seeing.

The unidentified flying object that had flown through the air seen from Barem Town was too distant and moving too fast to determine exactly what it was from the brief moment that I had caught sight of it. It certainly had made sense to assume it was a flying Pokemon whose morning glide had gone horribly wrong, but it could've just been a freak meteor occurrence all the same. It was pretty simple; I had expected what we found to either be a Pokemon or not be a Pokemon. Instead, in the most paradoxical sense, I found myself looking down at something that fit both descriptions.

Lying in the crater, covered in dust and grit, was the falling object in prospect. It was in the shape of a large jet-winged Pokemon, that was certain, but the resemblance to any sort of living creature stopped there. The entirety of it was a rocky gray color, and sat in the dirt at a stiffened angle that indicated that it's structure was rigid. The fact that it refused to negotiate with bending out of place in spite of the calamitous fall it had taken was more than enough support that this was no living thing. I'd have said it was just a meteor, but since when do meteors chiseled to be the exact shape of an actual Pokemon fall from the sky...?

Then it clicked.

Of course statues didn't just fall from space. What was I thinking? This phenomenon was made possible by the fact that the piece of rock below was indeed once alive and breathing, but was now reduced to-

"Stone..." Archen whispered, who then slid down into the five-foot deep crater to compose a better observation. He ran his wing across it's gray surface, and I could literally see the shiver that flowed through him as he made first contact.

"That's not possible," I whispered to nobody in particular. I had seen a similar image before, of a Pokemon who had been turned to stone and displayed in the newspaper that Pelipper had delivered us in Serene Village. How foolish I was to think that a tiny little two-dimensional photo could do justice to the sight before my eyes. I had felt unsettled back then, but that was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. I felt like I was going to throw up right there. Leah looked like she was going to lose her breakfast all the same, and not because of some irrelevant seasickness.

"This is Latios," Archen murmured aloud to himself. He was inspecting the victim's anatomy, specifically the spiked wings that allowed it to fly once. Archen had a front of phlegmatic focus plastered on his face, but I could tell by his body language that he found this just as horrifying as Leah and I did. "Latios is a legendary Pokemon who is capable of flying at supersonic speeds. But what was he doing way over here? How did he get turned to stone mid-flight? And where's Latias at?"

"Is he dead?" Leah impulsively asked without really considering the gravity of her question beforehand.

Archen looked up at us, glanced back at the stone figure next to him in the crater, and finally shifted his gaze back up to us again. "I..." he trailed off, inwardly parrying with the precise definition of 'death' Leah could be referring to. "I don't know. Part of Project Chisel is to find a way to bring a Pokemon back from this, but we've made so little progress that Ampharos hardly ever mentions the operation at all. So... so yes, there's a very real chance that he's dead."

"Who's Latias?" I asked him, having overheard his idle ramblings.

"Latios and Latias are two legendary Pokemon known as the 'Eon' twins. Latias looks a lot like Latios, except she's a tiny bit smaller. They apparently go everywhere together, but... she's nowhere to be found it seems."

I was about to warn them that we might be in potential danger being so close to someone turned to stone when I smelled something peculiar. I raised my long nose and gave the dusty air a subtle sniff.

"Do you guys smell that?" I vocalized my suspicion. "Is something burning?"

Archen's got up from his kneeled position, breaking his in-depth inspection to glance around and sniff the air. Leah did the same.

"It does smell that way," Leah said after a moment. "But there's no smoke or fire anywhere."

She was right. The smell was omnipresent, and yet no sign of combustion was to be found. At least, not until I noticed the ashes.

"Look at that," I hissed, jabbing a vine towards the dirt. Lacing the crannies of the crater was ashes that had blended in with the dust when we arrived but was now distinguishable once I knew what shade of gray to look for. I rubbed my hand over some of it, sniffing once more. The ashes were still warm to the touch.

"Know of any fire-types that can turn other Pokemon into stone?" I asked Archen curiously.

"If I knew of any type of Pokemon that could turn others to stone, we'd probably be chasing after them instead of running a campaign over here," Archen huffed in defeat. "Not that that matters much anymore. We're involved now whether we like it or not."

Leah sat down to gathered up some of the ashes, trying to get as much as she could in her paws as some of the scorched dust fell through. She trotted over to me and reached her mouth into the bag slung around my shoulder. She pulled out her half-full can of chesto berries and, to my amazement, downed all of the the remaining berries in one chug. Leah then sprinkled the ashes into the now-emptied cylinder, placed it back into our bag, and clapped her paws together a couple times to get the dust off of her.

"We can bring this back to Mawile to study. Anything helps, right?" she suggested, answering the brief questioning stare that I gave her.

"But what do we do about this?" I asked the two of them, gesturing to this 'Latios' fellow's remains. "Is there any logical way we could get him back with us?"

"Well, carrying him is out of the question, especially since I'm pretty sure he's a whole lot heavier now," Archen said while rubbing the bottom of his beak in dead-end thought. "Yeah, I don't think this guy is going anywhere for the time being. All we can do for now is snap a few pictures with our gadgets and head back."

"We could try looking for the culprit," Leah suggested thoughtfully.

Archen's eyes widened, and he looked at her as though she was crazy. "No way. I couldn't let you two rookies get involved in a high-risk chase like that. This is clearly no average thug we're dealing with, if it's even a Pokemon doing this at all." He adjusted the strap on his bag for the fiftieth time today and shook his head. "No, no we need to get back to town as soon as possible. I still need to call Ampharos and let him know we're here, so I can tell him then about what we've seen here."

Leah looked like she wanted to argue, but held her tongue and acquiesced to Archen's directions. With one last nervous glance at the glazed eyes of Latios, I hopped out of the crater and we all began to head back to Barem Town. In the midst of my paranoia, I could've sworn the stony eyes of the victim were following me.

* * *

I drowned out Archen's recollection of events as he spoke into the gadget. As the soothing flavors of the green gummi slushy flowed down my throat, I made a reasonable attempt to relax and enjoy the light jazz music playing in Barem Town's Cafe Connection. There was a lot of my mind, and I discarded the thought of drinking it all away with a little ice and sugar when it became apparent that I would not find mental tranquility so easily.

"Ugh, how do you drink that stuff?" Leah scoffed as I took another sip, earning her a raised eyebrow from me.

"Because it's delicious," I replied flatly.

"No it's not, it's too... organic. Like a salad," she concluded after taking a second to find the right word. "Red gummi drinks are much better."

"Too spicy," I disputed with her. "But you know, I'm pretty sure our taste buds are designed to favor the gummis that align with our typing, so I don't think we'll ever come to an agreement on this."

"You're probably right," she murmured. She flicked her straw and solemnly watched it spin around in the cold liquid, our conversation stopping there under the obvious weight that had fallen on our group.

Archen was right there next to us at that moment, though, having finished his call with Ampharos and coming over to debrief us on our next move. I found myself shocked when he told us what it was.

"Well, I'll be damned," he rasped. "I'm going back to the Society base to give Mawile the pictures and clues we gathered, while you two are staying here to finish the mission we were called here for. Ampharos' orders."

"What? Why would he have the two of us stay when you're the one who knows this land better than either of us?" I challenged.

Archen shook his head and shrugged. "I tried to tell him that, but the chief was set firmly in his decision." The flightless bird eyed the two of us for a second with a mixture of curiosity and meticulous uncertainty. "I don't know what he sees in you two, but if he thinks you can get by in this foreign land on your own then I don't see why I shouldn't. I wish you the best."

"In that case, here," Leah piped up, grabbing the canister with the pawful of ashes inside and giving it to Archen, who put it in the little travel bag on his hip that he kept his necessities in.

"Awesome," Archen said, thanking her. He looked us over one last time and inhaled deeply. "Well, I guess I'm off then. Not how I expected this to go, that's for sure, but it's alright. Just make sure to give it your all for the next two weeks. You remember where the location is, right?"

I nodded. "I got it marked on my map."

"Alright. Good luck."

Archen lightly bumped his wing into the tip of my vine as a sign of farewell, and then into Leah's outstretched paw. He pressed his way out the door to the Cafe with a final wave, leaving Leah and I sitting alone at the booth. Just like that, it was back to the two of us again.

"Looks like we really can't stop getting involved in big messes, huh?" Leah joked after a couple minutes of silence passed that was only occasionally interrupted by the sound of liquid traveling up our straws.

I thought about her comment, and chuckled at how true it was. We weren't exactly looking for trouble, and yet it seemed to find us on a near-daily basis. Now we were suddenly involved in the whole "Pokemon turning to stone" business, even though we were over here on the Air Continent for an entirely different reason. We had also been involved with that unexplainable nightmare in that cave a few days ago, despite heading that way for an entirely unrelated mission then as well. Thinking back even further brought along the whole mess with the Beeheyem, who hopefully wouldn't make themselves relevant anymore.

How things had changed since the days of rushing into the danger, like when I had chased after Budew or when Leah and I had delved into the Ancient Barrow to save Pancham and Shelmet. Now, it was the danger rushing at us, and it showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Especially not after this morning's events.

I just shook my head. "No, we really can't seem to stay away from disaster," I chuckled some more. "It's getting a little ridiculous at this point."

Leah got up from her seat, having finished her drink, and went to grab her flower that she had sat down when she halted in place. "Look!" she gaped, lifting up the bag that was sitting next to her accessory on the unoccupied table next to ours. "Archen forgot his other bag, the one with his fancy contraption in it. What do we do with it?"

I thought for a moment and shrugged, realizing a good ten minutes had passed since our colleague had made his way out the door. "He and Lapras have probably already left by now, so we'll just have to take it with us. I'm pretty sure the deposit box won't store something like that."

I tossed Leah the treasure bag, and she tossed me the slightly heavier bag packed full of lightweight fabric and metal, which I was beginning to draw comparisons to the material used to build the windmill sails from before.

"Come on," I said while already heading out the door, downing the last of my slushy. "We need to get moving if we want to be there by the time it gets dark."


	26. Stumble

Chapter 26 - Stumble

The Air Continent wasn't far off from the vague description Archen had given us—it was very similar to the Water Continent, just far less humid. There were benign differences here and there of course, ranging from the colors of plants to the different flavored berries to the common species of native Pokemon. The most noticeable change was the predominant wind currents that had followed us from down the trail away from Barem Town, giving me a reasonable assumption for what the continent's name was inspired by.

Although our destination was in the south, Leah and I had ruled out the crude trail leading that way because it would just lead us to the end of a peninsula, meaning we would have to swim a good couple of miles to cross the channel to continue. That option certainly didn't take long to cast aside, and so we instead had elected to take the highway running towards a nearby trading hub that sat right in the crevice of the peninsula. From there we planned to take a more or less traveled road running around the cape in a semi-circular path and then continuing south into the mountains.

Leah and I ran across a few Pokemon on the initial path leading east, all of them traders or simple travelers who were journeying from positively anywhere on the continent. As delegated, we had enough money for the bare necessities now that Leah had used the money we had taken from our own bank account on a pointless accessory. So, although we made brief conversation whenever a friendly pedestrian strolled along, we couldn't afford to adhere to much of the marketing in spite of temptation aimed at both of us. Even so, it didn't matter much in the end; we had enough food to last to the village if we didn't indulge our stomachs, and all of the materials and wares we'd need were already stored away in the treasure bag.

Still, I tried to convince Leah to sell that silly flower-pen, even if the stark white did compliment her bright pallet of fur well. With a long road ahead of us and little to discuss, we entertained ourselves by arguing the pros and cons of selling the item to a passing trader or perhaps someone in Pokemon Square, and trying to get back maybe two-thirds what Leah had bought it for that very morning. I reiterated what I'd said earlier about how it was useless in every way, and that we could use the money for berries or, if we could get back enough, a reviver seed. She was appalled I would even suggest such a thing at first, claiming that I was a guy and "didn't understand fashion" and then adjusting it and posing flamboyantly to try and force her visual appeal. It was cute and it made me smile, but, for the sake of conversation, I wouldn't rest my case.

Our lighthearted quarreling would carry us to our first stop at Pokemon Square a lot later than I would have hoped. I realized now, standing on the bridge leading into the marketplace, that our investigation into the Mystifying Forest had taken up a good chunk of our day as it was, with the walk over here only adding to it. The sun was beginning its descent, and our hours were unfavorably numbered. We would have to spend the night somewhere between here and the heart of the mountain range; we couldn't reach our destination in time, but also couldn't keep our clients waiting for an entire extra day by staying here for the night and wasting the entirety of tomorrow walking.

Leah's misgivings concerning her wobbly sea-legs were temporarily abandoned, replaced with the absorption of the sights, sounds, and smells of the Air Continent. I knew she would only just come face to face with the amusing issue again when the time came to return to Lively Town, but that was honestly the last thing on her mind as her dream of worldwide exploration had budded and grown its first petal. The first of many.

I knew this, and perhaps I was admittedly really excited to explore too. I figured that if we weren't going to bother racing the clock in a futile attempt to arrive at our destination tonight, then it couldn't hurt to spend a little time seeing what the significant stops on our journey had to offer. Just because we weren't delegated to pay attention to the landmarks and services along the way didn't mean we couldn't enjoy their convenience. This wasn't exactly a cartography mission, but neither of us were in objection.

Leah and I were still locked in conversation when we emerged from the treeline and onto an open path, taking us past a few little houses and finally one particularly run-down house before finally arriving at the place called Pokemon Square.

It was a nice little town, and boasted a style similar to what we were used to seeing: an open space with shops all around. The teller of a stand labeled 'Persian Bank' was fast asleep with his head lying on the counter while a pair of Jigglypuff kids rolled by, laughing all the way. A trio of Magnemite hovered in the middle of the square, buzzing unintelligibly at each other while a Diglett off to the side was trying to listen in. I saw bigger Pokemon too, fully-evolved forms like a Mamoswine and an Octillery who were speaking with a passerby Pelliper making his afternoon deliveries.

The temptation to stop for food was abruptly heightened by the peculiar smell of fresh bread and foreign fruit being carried by the wind to my sensitive nostrils. My stomach growled, earning me a smirk from Leah who then pointed towards a nearby fruit stand run by a Bellossom. I shrugged, and we took a couple of minutes to grab some goods for the road. It cost money, and I winced as our remaining coins continued to decline, but it was made up by the time we wouldn't have to spend later scavenging for food.

"This place is pretty cool," I remarked during the quick break we were taking to rest our legs and have a travel snack that would serve as lunch.

"Mhm!" Leah answered after swallowing the last of her apple. "We'll have to revisit if we're ever sent to this area to map it out. It's too bad we have to leave right away, but duty calls, you know?"

I nodded once in stark agreement, casting another sideways glance at the sun's position in the sky. The more I carefully stared in its general direction with narrowed eyes, the more its sheer intensity intrigued me. What kind of immeasurable force in the cosmos was causing this mass heat wave? At first, I'd figured that it was some leftover memory of mine nagging at me about how the sun was supposed to affect the world, since something like that might be exempt from my blank mind for not being too detail-oriented. But seeing how I wasn't the only one complaining about the temperature was enough to shove aside the notion and seek other paths of reasoning.

Sure, our location on the Air Continent wasn't too geographically far from Lively Town, at least not with the entire globe thrown into context. But still, we were far enough away to assume that this heat wave wouldn't reach us with the same temperatures from before.

When I really thought about it, it had been like this since summer began on the Water Continent, all the way back to the days when Ampharos had visited Serene Village and given us our badges. It seemed almost silly to allow myself to give something as natural as the sun's movements this much thought, but at the same time, it wasn't like I could just ignore the blazing daytime heat. A little sunlight was good for me, as I had figured out that my tail ran its own involuntary photosynthesis that would substitute for food when I was hungry and needing a little more energy. But this was more than a little sunlight, the solar energy acting as a double-edged sword and forcing my body to work harder just to keep itself going. Maybe my typing was just getting the better of me?

Fed up with wondering, I voiced this interest to Leah.

She pondered it for a long moment, humming to herself deep in thought. "Well... the Water Continent is known for the rain it gets, which is reference to the name. But in reality, it's most known for its extreme and unpredictable weather patterns in general, not just the condensation. Being surrounded by four other continents tends to have this effect on the coasts, so extended periods of droughts and storms, or fluctuations of both, are pretty common even as far inland as Serene Village." She stopped and frowned, looking up at the sun as she did so. "But... this particular drought is a little weird, at least for what little I've seen. Not to mention that we're not even on the Water Continent and we're still getting cooked. It's making my fur get all matted and uncomfortable."

I nodded absently, before tilting my head. "Where did you learn all of that about the weather?" I questioned while giving her a suspicious look. "You always slept half of class away, so I doubt you picked that up there."

"The stuff about the weather?" she repeated, before recognition glowed on her face. "Oh, I can thank my Pops for that. He always made sure I knew about our culture and place in the world. Not that it mattered much since we were miles from any established society." She added the last part with a roll of her eyes and a flick of her tail. But it didn't fool me; I knew she was inwardly appreciative for the knowledge, even if she didn't realize it as much before I met her.

"Makes sense. Oh, and Leah..." I added as I finished the last of my makeshift lunch. "I think you meant precipitation, not condensation." I rolled my eyes and chuckled. "You really should've stayed awake in class, you know?"

"Pfft. Same difference," she playfully huffed. "Sheesh, let me have my scholarly moment without ruining it."

Our break was short-lived, as our conversation took up enough time for us to finish eating and begin heading south. Other than the blazing summer heat, there were no concerns to be had with the weather, with hardly a cloud in sight. The wind still blew at a moderate rate as it had been all day, but it only worked to cool us down as the day began to near retirement.

I had prayed that the journey south would be as straightforward as the four-hour walk from Barem Town to Pokemon Square. It didn't look so bad at first: fortunately the path skirted around a handful of mountains cluttered together to the north. But I hadn't really kept in mind that our destination was in a valley, which guaranteed us a fair amount of climbing.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the mundane dirt path had transformed into a sloped hiking trail. It led up another mountain further along the way that conformed to the rest of the range, where our destination awaited us. The valley in question was right in the middle of the cluster of terrain, and my assumptions that we would fall short today were confirmed when I compared the remaining distance we had to walk to the remaining distance the sun had to be out of sight. Leah and I took nature's hint that it was time to make camp as soon as the bottom tip of the sun began getting intimately close to the craggy horizon.

This task wasn't much of a challenge in the Sheer Mountain Range since there had been plenty of water around, and since Leah and I had already begun descending toward fairer grounds by the time we had stopped for the night. I realized that it was a whole different gambit over here, however, when it became apparent that the land was not nearly as merciful. Grounded sources of water became essentially nonexistent as my observant eyes scanned for them through the ascending trees and rocks in vain. There were hardly any large openings in between the thick woods, and the few that we could see were littered with brambles and uneven ground. The pines that surrounded us from every angle, sometimes even blocking off the path altogether, did not act as hardly any overhead protection or provide the kind of leaves that could be gathered and crafted into any kind of viable bed.

We couldn't just stop anywhere unless we wanted to allow ourselves to be subject to the elements. Maybe if it wasn't so hot and windy, especially this high up, it would've been taken into consideration. But I knew there no use in longing for perfect conditions, not when the sun's on its way down and we were in the middle of nowhere. As it stood, it could be a lot worse, and that was just enough to remain focused. Not necessarily optimistic, but just focused.

With each passing minute darkening the sky, the trail led further and further up until there were no more trees at all, and eventually no more trail either. The only vegetation to be found up here was the occasional patch of needled bushes, and those really only served to get in the way. We spent the last couple hours of daylight climbing the small entry mountain, and the summit was still another hour or so away when we finally found a place suitable to stay.

"Look!" Leah called out to me from a good ways away.

I glanced up from rummaging through the sharp brush, and backtracked a few steps to make my way over to her. I swiped aside a few wayward thorns with my tail—my new leaf blade technique came in handy—before jogging into the open to see whatever it is she had found. I was caught up in my thoughts hoping that she wasn't just referring to an amazing view or something along those unhelpful lines, when I felt the ground below my left foot cease to exist.

The crevice below me was a couple body lengths from edge to edge, but looking down dismissed any implications that it was just an insignificant pit. The dim sunlight couldn't come close to reaching the bottom, and I instantly recognized the danger of falling deeper than those hopeless rays when my balance was thrown to the wind. I hadn't lifted my right foot off the ground yet, and with a startled yelp I shoved off the ground with it to launch myself forward. Not for the first time, I cursed the pint size of my legs when I felt the off-balance attempt at clearing the gap threaten to fall short. My tail ended up being the critical deciding factor, as my landing only part-way on the other side was haphazardly completed by using the swinging leverage of my tail to roll sideways away from the fall and to safety.

Leah bounded over, gaping at the thin but deep crack in the mountainside. "Holy Miltank, are you okay?!" she gasped.

I rolled off my back and hopped up, adrenaline already rushing through me. I stared back at the crevice for a few seconds before turning to her and nodding. After a deep breath, I assured her, "Yeah, yeah. I-I'm good."

"You need to look where you're going," she reprimanded with a relieved but disappointed shake of her head. "You seriously could've died just now, and in the dumbest way!"

I glanced from the crevice to her and then back to the crevice. She wasn't wrong; that kind of fall wouldn't give anyone without wings much hope for survival. That would've been a really dumb way to die.

"—But enough about that," she continued. "I found a place we can sleep that gives us shelter from the wind and weather."

My face lightened up despite the adrenaline still coursing through me. "Really? Where at?" I questioned, warranting from her a friendly nudge towards a rise in the land that jutted out as an inconsistency of the otherwise moderately-sloped terrain.

Leah led me along the wall of the rock, both of us carefully watching for any more disastrous drops that could put an early end to our careers. I saw that it extended upwards to form a cliff, the distance to the top being a good forty feet. The summit of the mountain was still further up from there, probably a good hour and a half longer of hiking, but that hopefully wouldn't be too big of an issue once morning came.

When the wall abruptly turned towards inside the mountain, I realized what Leah had been referring to. The mouth of a cave was before us now, a dozen meters wide and half a dozen tall. The immediate inside looked plenty spacious enough to accommodate the two of us, and would serve as the perfect shelter.

"Good find," I said, patting her shoulder and nodding once in approval.

"And I didn't almost get myself killed trying to find it. I get bonus points for that, right?" she answered, giving me a sideways grin that made me huff in annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah…" I rolled my eyes and dropping my complimentary demeanor. "That only happened because you called me over here in the first place anyway."

Her jocular attitude faded away like the dying sunlight, and she stared at the ground. "Oh... yeah," she muttered, a hint of guilt in her tone. "I didn't really think of it like that. I guess it's nothing to worry about, but I'll make sure to keep a better eye out in the future." A short moment passed before she glanced up and punched me in the shoulder, giving me a somber look. "You do the same though! I can't lose you to some stupid fall just because you can't stay on your feet, you know?"

"Oh please, my footwork is _fine_ ," I deflected with an encouraging grin. I understood this wasn't a topic to beat to death with satire, however, so I quickly transitioned to giving her a genuine gaze of my own. "But I was just kidding, that wasn't your fault. And I get it. We both need to be careful out here, or anywhere we go for that matter, and watch each other. It's a dangerous world."

"No joke," Leah remarked, fortunately sounding satisfied with my answer. "Just think of everything that's happened today. We really just can't catch a break."

A gust of wind interrupted our exchange, momentarily chilling me without the glaring sun to transcend it. By now the sky was lit only by twilight, and we registered that it was time to make ourselves as comfortable as possible inside the cave. We both made our way into the cave without sharing a word further on the topic before, each accepting that it was settled.

I actually ended up having to run right back out to hack up some dead brush, Leah insisting that I go slowly to keep from risking another near-death scenario. Not to my surprise, I saw a precarious fall around a corner not far from the cave entrance that I made note of to avoid tomorrow morning. The place we were staying was in a pretty stable location on the mountainside, but I knew from my experience before that there was still steep drops and hidden incisions to watch out for everywhere. I hoped this wouldn't be a recurring problem all the way to our destination, or else we might have to go slower than I'd prefer to when we set out tomorrow.

Once I'd gathered an armful of dead shrubbage, which didn't take but two minutes, I carried it back to the cave so we could start a fire. When I arrived, I tossed it down on the ground where Leah could go to work on it. She cupped her paws around her maw and gently breathed on the greenery a few times, the funneled air heating to the temperature necessary to ignite without utterly incinerating what little I had brought. A tiny flame appeared in the center, and it quickly spread to envelop the whole pile to promise us a good few minutes of light and heat. We technically weren't in dire need of either, but it would at least let us look at our map and see our dinner as we ate it.

I sat down, tossing the bag full of Archen's junk towards the wall a few meters behind me. The ground wasn't any softer than the rocky terrain outside, but the relief of resting my legs in a safe spot after all that had happened today eclipsed any insignificant discomforts. A contented groan from across the small fire implied I wasn't alone in my remission, and my mouth watered when I saw the source grab two perfect apples from the exploration bag.

"Catch," Leah said while tossing me the precious food.

The apple soared way over my head, and I had to extend a vine all the way back to catch it before it hit the ground. Retracting the tendril brought me the food, with which I then took a bite of while shooting my partner a glare.

"What?" she giggled when she saw my expression. "Just testing your reach."

"Hm," I huffed with my mouth full, before swallowing the delicious juices so I could speak. "Well, did I pass?"

She shrugged and smirked. "I'd have caught it sooner."

"Without vines?" I chuckled with raised eyebrows, taking a swig of my water container.

"Well, no. Only if I had vines."

"But... you don't have vines, so..."

"Fair point… You know, I really am the tiniest bit jealous of those," she confided after taking a couple seconds to eat a bite of her own apple. When she saw my confused expression, she pointed to my shoulder and elaborated. "Your vines I mean. Or... are they even called vines?"

"I think so," I replied while giving her a puzzled look. "But what's there to be jealous about? My arms are so short that I can barely touch my opposite shoulders."

"But make up for it, you have those two vines that can, like… cut stuff, hold stuff, catch stuff, choke stuff... I don't know, I just feel like I'd have a lot of fun with that kind of wingspan." She smiled and chuckled to herself at the thought, and I did too when I considered what it would have looked like back in Serene Village. Leah, a well-known troublemaker, running around with vines like mine trying to figure out how to use them. I remembered how bad I had been with them when I had first realized they were an alternative to my lackluster arms, accidentally coming inches from whipping off Nuzleaf's leaf-hair that day in Lush Forest. They were undoubtedly useful, but still, it sounded outlandish to me that a fire-breathing Fennekin would envy something like that. Even if she was just exploring the thought.

"Hey, at least you can breathe fire," I told her as I extended my vines out a few feet to make my next point. "Would you trade the ability to do that for these?"

She considered the question for a second, before shaking her head. "…No," she decided. "I don't think I would. I can't imagine myself not being able to use fire-type attacks."

"I can't imagine it either," I said, finishing my apple before changing the subject. "Hey, how are we doing on food?"

"We've got enough for a reasonable dinner tonight and then all three meals tomorrow, so we'll be fine. Here, catch." She peeked her nose out of the bag and reached her paw in to grab and toss me a bag containing green gummies, thankfully throwing the food at a more reasonable angle this time. I bit into the seam and split it, being careful not to let the delectables spill. I savored every bite, keeping in mind that the chances of coming across sugary snacks out here were slim to none. I saw Leah taking the opposite approach by trying to cram three of her own red gummies into her mouth at once, and I smiled to myself and shook my head. Some things don't change.

"Mmm," she mumbled to herself with a smack of her lips. The little baggie wasn't very big to begin with, being travel-size, but it was still large enough to last longer than the handful of seconds it took her to empty it out. I hadn't even eaten half of mine yet.

"I remember when miss Azumarill would hand out gummies to all the kids an hour after school got out," Leah mentioned, thinking back fondly on the memory. "They always tasted so fresh, like they were right out of Kangaskhan's storage!"

I recalled chatting once or twice with the middle-aged Azumarill that had worked at the Cafe Connection back in Serene Village. She absolutely adored kids, from the tiniest babies to those of us more matured and in school, and was usually willing to give generous handouts when they had enough to go around.

"I remember that," I confirmed with her, nodding my head to the recollection. "Too bad we were usually somewhere in the middle of a dungeon around that time. Everyone would always miss us and wonder where we'd gone off to."

Leah nodded back in an absent manner, and I caught a glimpse of melancholy in her eyes and she absentmindedly stared into the fire.

"Leah? Something the matter?"

"Hm?" she glanced up at me and exhaled, shrugging her shoulders slightly. "Oh... not really. I'm just thinking about how I miss everyone again. I really need to cut it out."

Oh. So she really has been trouble by these thoughts after all, just as I have. It made sense, Leah having lived in Serene Village her whole life, that she would feel some kind of way even if she had experienced modest rejection for most of her life. I had at least been granted a warm enough welcome.

"I get it," I finally said after a few passing moments of listening to the receding fire crackle. "I miss them too. And... I feel bad for the way we chose to leave. I don't regret the act of doing it since it was the necessary course of action, but I find myself feeling homesick all the same." I looked into the fire and blinked. "It's so frustrating the way things can be sometimes."

"It is..." she sighed, before some kind of realization hit her and a sly grin replaced her downcast frown. "But just imagine what they would say if they knew we had made it into the Exploration Society. We'd be like celebrities!"

"No doubt," I concurred, laughing a bit with her to brighten up the sensitive topic. "A few of them might not like the sound of us choosing this life over the country life, but it's hard to critique us when we're out here helping others."

"I know right?" Just like that, Leah was cheered up and smiling cheek to cheek as usual. "We're on another continent for Arceus' sake! Living the dream!

"They'd probably be jealous, to be honest," she continued. "We'll have to make sure to tell them all about it if we ever visit."

I hesitated when she said that, the prospect being so casually thrown out in the open that it caught my breath in my throat.

Visit...? I hadn't given any kind of return to Serene Village much consideration, since it would still be too risky with all of the dangerous unknowns surrounding my existence in this world. The Beeheyem had caused enough mayhem over there, and adding whatever the hell confronted me in that underground tomb into the mix was the last thing I wanted to be responsible for. Maybe one day, if I got this all figured out, a visit would certainly be warranted. But that seemed so far away that just thinking about it made it feel like a dream that hadn't even begun to put itself together into a tangible reality. Not to mention that the very act of figuring out my situation would probably involve thoroughly evaluating and possibly even reversing whatever supernatural process changed me into a Snivy, which would prevent me from visiting anyway. One way or another, I would end up keeping a fair distance. And deep down, I wasn't okay with that, even with the risks considered.

"Looks like the fire's about dead," Leah yawned. I shoved aside my thoughts and glanced at the ashen pile of shrubbery, where only an unimpressive hue of orange glowed in its core. As I had figured, the handful of dead brush hadn't lasted but a few minutes. I looked up and saw Leah walk over to the wall and lay down, puffing up her tail for a couple seconds so she could comfortably rest her head on it.

"No point in staying up any longer and wasting our energy," she murmured as she shifted to get as cozy as possible on the cold stone floor. "See you in the morning Smugleaf."

I felt the weight of my body whispering agreement, and I decided I wouldn't be far behind her. I laid down on the opposite wall near Archen's bag, closing my eyes and allowing my joints and limbs to relax. The ground wasn't really fit to sleep on, but I found that it wasn't hard to ignore when the idea of sleep alone was as appealing to me as it was now..

"Alright. Goodnight."

* * *

Dream and reality clashed together in an eternal struggle as I woke to the sensation of encompassing pain. My body was still numb, my mind was still made of pudding, and my eyes flashed open but failed to immediately adjust to the darkness. I briefly registered that something had aggressively made contact with me, although precious details like where I was and if I was badly injured escaped my bewilderment. I let out a grunt of shock and pain when something sharp hit me again, now jolting me into a state of total consciousness, and desperately tried to gather my senses and get a grip on whatever it was that interrupted my deep sleep.

I caught a glimpse of a gigantic figure looming over me, and I instinctively rolled backwards towards the mouth of the cave to get away. I conveniently did so right when its foot stomped down where I just was, and my heart started thumping loudly in my chest as fear and adrenaline overtook the unidentified pain.

Just as my eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness, a blinding flash of orange and white lit up the room and made me shield my vision. After scrambling to gain my footing and blinking rapidly, my eyes adjusted once more and I finally was able to assess my surroundings.

I glanced over in Leah's direction, and my heart skipped a beat. A giant Ursaring towered over Leah, who had just blasted it with fire to keep it from mauling my half-asleep form any further. I didn't need to be fully awake to put together that it wasn't here to have a friendly chat.

 _Holy shit!_

"Get out of our cave!" Leah barked at the colossal bear, who responded with a snarl that was twice as loud.

"I-I think it lives here!" I shouted to correct her, my voice slurred by grogginess and drowned out by the territorial feral's snarls. I doubt she'd have heard me anyway, as she was too busy scrambling out of range as it furiously tried to slash at her with its unwieldy set of claws.

Reasoning with the Ursaring was clearly out of the question. Talking things over with wild Pokemon didn't really have the best track record for success. On top of that, this cave probably belonged to it, meaning it saw us as the enemies and therefore would be substantially less willing to retreat or negotiate anyway. That meant violence was the only option, and from the looks of it, our enemy held a lofty advantage. It was five times the size of either of us, and had caught us fast asleep, totally unprepared for a fight of any kind.

My limbs were complaining about the sudden blood rush in the middle of the night, and it took the same surge of willpower it took to wake up early every morning to get my feet moving and help my partner out. After all, I had to assume that she was feeling just as sluggish as I was, so there really was no effort to be spared.

She had just finished stumbling under a slash that narrowly missed above her head when I slithered up behind the beast and slung both vines around its bulky neck. I heard it grunt in surprise and then desperation and pain as I wrapped around and pulled as hard as I could to squeeze the air out of it. Leah heard the sound and didn't miss a beat, nailing it in the stomach with a flamethrower as I struggled to hold the beast in place. It cried out in pain, and loosened its resistance as all of its strength was evaporated.

Or so I thought. I might not have fallen for the feint and loosened my grip the tiniest bit if I was wide awake, but the circumstances weren't operating in our favor in the moment that I had realized my mistake. The Ursaring, unexpectedly invigorated by the burn condition that Leah's flamethrower had inflicted, roared mightily and slung me forward by yanking onto the vines that I had just been choking it with. I refused to let up my grip as a new wave of Leah's flames hit it, this time on its backside as it turned to face me.

I felt its menacing gaze lock onto me, swearing revenge and supporting my decision to switch to a defensive strategy. I tried to retract my weapons to avoid its wrath only to find that it was gripping them both tightly in one of its massive paws, refusing to let go. I extended my vines further to take a few steps back and put distance between myself and the Ursaring, but I stopped in horror when I realized that my body was not its immediate target. My tugging became more desperate when it raised its free arm to the ceiling of the cave and brought it down, seemingly ignoring the stream of flames slamming into its backside.

I managed to yank my ties with the Ursaring to the left just enough to make it partially miss the attack, but I could tell from what I felt next that I hadn't quite done enough. Its claws made contact with a spot along my right vine, and in a split second the nerves running up from the contact point to the tip of the tendril ceased to exist. An unbearable spike of pain wasn't far behind, and I finally pulled both appendages back to me with a new desperation so I could size up the damage.

Assuming I was taken care of for now, the Ursaring tossed the severed end of the vine aside and turned back to deal with Leah, who had chosen to switch strategies a moment beforehand. As the beast turned, a psybeam pulsed through the air on a collision course with its temple, the contact causing it to stumble to the ground with a pained screech. Leah ran over to regroup with me, but ended up pushing me all the way out of the cave entrance when we saw how quickly the bear had transitioned into a devastating thrash attack headed right at us.

"Look out!" Leah rasped during the hustle to get outside and avoid its rampage.

"Ah, I can't see shit!" I cursed when I tripped on a loose pebble, causing me to lean into her for a moment to regain my balance.

We were trying to put distance between ourselves and the angry cave-dweller, but I wasn't sure simply running away was going to get the job done, especially given how little light there was to see. Even then, we'd still need our stuff lying on the ground back in the cave, so going back was an inevitability one way or another. When I looked back to see how we were doing, my stomach fell to the ground when I caught the vague outline of the Ursaring charging right towards us. And in that moment of dread, an idea was formed.

The quarter-moon didn't light the sky as effectively as I would've preferred even with my eyes fully adjusted, but I could see well enough to figure out where I was and where I wanted to go.

"I've got a plan," I hissed to Leah, whose bewildered expression was barely visible in the dim moonlight.

I didn't wait for a response as I pivoted in place and dashed towards the Ursaring at a slight angle. The distance was now closing at exponentially the rate it was before, so we collided in only a couple of seconds as I brought my uninjured vine across its face. The bear lashed out blindly, not expecting the surprise offensive, and I felt the air above my head ripple as I narrowly rolled out of the way of its outstretched claws.

With its attention now on me, I stumbled to regain my footing so I could run towards the area I had collected fuel from earlier. Inconsistencies on the ground that I hadn't bothered to remember now inhibited my progress as I found myself constantly tripping on the tiny pits and pebbles that left me with cuts and bruises on my legs. But I could hear the ground thump with every footstep of what was following me, and there was really no comparison to what would happen if I stopped.

Still running, I caught sight of the patch of dead brush that I had torn up to make a fire back in the cave, and then the corner hiding the fatal drop a few meters behind it. That was what I was here for. If the bastard was stuck in a thrash attack and was charging right for me, all it would take is a few evasive maneuvers and Leah and I would be safe once more. I reached the edge and skidded to a stop, pivoting around to face the oncoming beast.

Maybe it was just my mind being too groggy to cooperate with reality, or maybe I truly wasn't proficient at judging my own speed, but I knew something had gone wrong. Instead of a few paces back as I had expected, the Ursaring was now practically on top of me, already leaving the ground to make its final leap while too caught up in a rage to recognize the doom it was jumping into.

Taken by complete surprise, I sidestepped away from the ledge to avoid the center mass of its killing lunge. But I was a second too late, my tiny legs delivering me a disservice when I least needed it. The bear's outstretched claws dug into my shoulder, the same one that hosted my now-retracted vine that was halfway severed, and I felt a screaming pain pulse throughout my senses from the wound that opened up there. All of the chemical reactions in my body slammed into focus, and the source I had been drawing all of my strength from had faded away without a whimper.

The feeling of total helplessness that enveloped me next made the soreness and pain hardly matter to me in the following moments. Even the Ursaring, now evidently finished with its thrashing, grunted in surprise when the ledge shifted in place to a loud cracking sound. I was only inches from the edge, but that was made irrelevant when I felt the ground around me divorce with the land behind it. I could feel the cliffside I was lying on suddenly become a platform of its own, and in that horrifying moment I, too, was divorced from the earth in the blink of an eye.

Someone called my name, and as my vision began to tilt at an angle I managed to turn my head and catch sight of Leah bounding towards me. I tried to roll towards her, but I had nothing left, so it was up to her to close the gap in those slipping seconds.

She leaped just as the Ursaring had, but with intentions that I welcomed. I rolled onto my side to extend a hand to her outstretched paw, my injured shoulder too numbed and strained to extend an already-crippled vine, and she stretched as far as she could to complete the connection.

But she never did.

Several seconds had passed now since the effects of the Ursaring's final slam into the unstable ledge had begun, and that was more than nature would grant us mercy for. Whether she was in optimal position to escape or not I couldn't really tell. The entire thing collapsed, and the hopeless feeling of weightlessness was the last thing I remembered before the blackness.


	27. The Clouds and the Canyon

Perhaps I wasn't sure what to expect when I woke up. I easily could've anticipated to not wake up in the first place, but the fact that my mind was still comprehensive effectively dismissed the notion of death. Opening my eyes to the familiar sight of a small room with a bed had generally been what this type of situation led to, so something along those lines would have made sense. On a more realistic note, my awakening actually should have been in that crevice, where I'd probably have spent my last moments crippled and afraid.

Instead, I woke to find myself still falling.

My eyes flew open. My immediate surroundings were nothing but the open sky. Looking straight up meant looking straight down, and meant registering how deathly-far away the ground was. Wind buffeted my face and blew my scarf partially over my eyes while I dangled helplessly, unable to control my movement. I was a cloud.

Groggily snapping to a fearsome reality, I felt that my tail was strapped to whatever was keeping me from falling toward certain death.

I hardly paid this odd circumstance any thought as I screamed as loud as I'd ever screamed. It was really the only thing to be done in that moment. Whatever bird Pokemon that had captured me shifted in surprise at the sound of the deafening wind unsuccessfully contesting my vocal cords, and I was able to get a good enough viewing angle to discover that it wasn't a bird at all.

"L-L-Leah?! What the hell is going on?!" I exclaimed when I caught sight of her wide-eyed expression hovering above me.

Her eyes remained locked forward for a moment even though she clearly heard my exclamation. She was clutching the bar that extended from what looked like a double-flapped glider. The treasure bag was flying in the wind and beating against her side, the cover secured tight to keep its contents from spilling across the valley below. She broke her view ahead to quickly shoot me a neutral glance before focusing back on keeping the vehicle steady.

"Okay... sooo you probably want to know how we ended up in this situation!" she yelled above the air beating against the glider. "To put it simply, I basically got us out of that hole and we ended up way up here! I-I'll explain the details of what happened when we land!"

My reasoning and logic escaped me for a moment as I tried to think of ways that this inconceivable reality could've come about, and I decided I'd start with the sudden appearance and application of the glider that my partner was currently trying to maneuver through the air. It only took a handful of seconds for that part, at least, to piece itself together in my mind.

"Wait a second... is this what was in Archen's bag?!" I demanded of my partner. "And—wait, why did you strap me in by the tail?!"

"We couldn't both fit any other way!" was how her muffled excuse sounded in the deafening wind. "—This thing was clearly designed for Archen and not us... but don't worry though, there's no way you'll fall!" She took a deep breath before continuing. "I didn't want to just leave us in the middle of a dangerous mountain range, so I let the winds pick us up in this thing! I guess it's a good thing that he left it behind, huh?"

I took one look at the ground below and exclaimed, "Are you insane?! We're gonna die!"

"We'll be fine!" she assured me above the sound of the wind. "I'm good at this!"

" _No!_ No you're not!"

"Well it can't be that hard!" she vigorously reasoned, glancing down at me impatiently. "I bet Archen can do it just fine, so why can't I?"

"Maybe because he's a flying-type who has practice!" I yelled.

"A flying-type who can't even fly!" she objected. "Just have some faith, we aren't dead yet!"

The wind muffled the irritated groan that escaped my lips.

 _This is why I make the decisions!_

There was no use arguing with her now, not when we were already stuck hurtling through the air. The only thing keeping us alive now was the air filtering under the glider's flaps, and by the looks of it, there was no place to immediately land that offered odds of survival. We were now entirely in the palms of nature.

What an awakening though! Leah had previously woken me up in ways I'd rather forget, like when she dropped a painfully spicy berry down my throat back in Serene Village or when she'd jabbed me in the eye with a twig (that one had been more of an accident). Some of them were memorable, and all of them had been in good fun, but sheesh! Without a doubt, however, this instance topped everything else by a mile, which might be how far we'd fall if this glider spontaneously fell apart.

She had saved us from one dilemma by creating a bigger one—while I was _unconscious_!

There was no telling if the indiscreet Fennekin who initiated this brilliantly ludicrous plan even could figure out how steer this thing, or if she even knew where we were going. She seemed to be maintaining a positive outlook with it, but how much would an untimely wind current respect that? Tangible reality always transcends intangible optimism. It's just that some individuals see them overlapping one another too often, and testify that they are synonymous.

I was still determined to make myself as comfortable as possible while dangling upside-down, regardless of the terror racing through me. I extended a vine so that I could grab the side of the pole that Leah was holding… but an intense spike of pain in that area declared that I would do no such thing. Remembering the claws that had torn into that shoulder just before falling into the crevice last night, I instead used the vine on my uninjured side to grip the bar and successfully hoist myself up to a more agreeable position. My lithe body possessed enough flexibility to coil my head above it so that my perspective of the world could flip right side up. I tied my vine around the lightweight metal into an agreeably loose knot so that I could relax without falling back to how I was before.

"Do you even know where we are?" I asked Leah, not needing to yell as loudly as before, my head on a level plane with hers.

"I'm pretty sure we're somewhere above the Air Continent," she joked, clearly enjoying this weightless experience more than me. I drilled holes into the side of her head with my impatient glare, and she just laughed. I could swear that she was having way too much fun with this.

"I'm messing with you!" she replied, turning her focus back to the front. "The village should—uh, should be somewhere ahead of us still."

I reached my hand into the bag strapped around her neck to pull out the Society gadget.

"What, you don't believe me?" she questioned.

I brought up the map and let it load for a moment. When I saw our location, I positioned it where she could see while being extra careful not to drop it.

"Look, we're right here and heading south!" I zoomed in a little more and pointed at a geographical marker that sat right on top of the arrow that indicated our current location.. "Leah... we're like right on top of it! We need to land!"

She looked like she was going to argue for a moment, but she stopped herself short when the contents of the screen registered. Even though we hadn't seen the village itself since our visibility of the ground wasn't all-inclusive, she still couldn't argue the map's display of the error in her estimation.

"Oops," she muttered almost too far under her breath for me to hear. "Yeah, we should probably land now. Good thing you woke in time to show me that. Now if I can just figure out how to..."

She went silent.

"Leah?"

"Um." The wind mostly overtook her mumbling. "I... well... I don't know how to land this thing."

Fear—legitimate fear—threatened to rip my heart out of my chest. Of course she didn't know how to land. Of course.

I let my head fall just under the horizontal bar so I could start scanning the ground ahead of us for a natural runway we could use. We were already well into the valley, and it would not be too long before the chaotic winds that allowed the glider to defy gravity would carry us all the way across to the other side. From there we would likely be doomed to either crash land into a mountain or fly even further to the ocean. I moved my eyes quickly, looking for any trace of a break in the trees or any hint of blue beneath the canopy.

We needed something wide open that we could use as an arbitrary runway. Wherever I looked, I couldn't find anything though, and I started to get nervous after a dozen unfruitful seconds passed. We just needed one stupid clearing, or...

...There! A lake roughly a third the size of the one back at Serene Village had been partially hidden by the trees, but revealed itself further as we got closer.

"We can land this thing there!" I suggested while jabbing a paw down in its direction.

Leah strained her head to see. "I—I see it, kinda. That tiny lake?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Ease the nose of the glider down a bit so that we can approach at a better angle. Just don't go too-"

Me failing to warn Leah about tipping us downward too quickly before telling her to approach the lake led to her completely losing control of the glider for a moment. The view ahead transitioned from the open blue sky to nothing but the jade and brown blanket of the ground below.

"Pull up!" I commanded as our speed increased towards the trees. The minute details of the leaves started to come into focus before even a second had passed, and we both screamed and panicked.

Leah let out a drawn-out yelp that vaguely resembled a battle cry as she perilously tried to angle the glider back up with all of her might. I really wasn't much help in the position I was in, although that probably could've been averted if I had been strapped in in a way that didn't leave me upside-down to begin with. That mostly left the piloting business up to Leah, while I was stuck providing information and advice that really wasn't getting through to her anyway.

Leah couldn't get the glider to stabilize if her life depended on it—which, at the time, seemed like it did—and the next few seconds consisted of flying too far down, and then too far up, and then too far down again. It was a cluster of useless overcompensations that formed a pattern of terror, and I felt like I was going to be sick the whole way down. It was a wonder that we were able to hit the lake at all.

Instead of landing towards the front like I'd hoped, we landed closer to the shallower back. The impact was skewed at an angle, and I was caught unprepared for the punch as the glider skipped hard against the water. It was like skipping stones, where we were the stone that had fallen from a monumentally large distance. The breath was ripped out of me as I was yanked down by the glider bouncing off the water, threatening to dislodge my grip entirely. The warm spray of water that followed crashed into me, and choked me for a moment before I could take in a gulp of air. We held on, hardly having any time to brace for the second skip across the water, this one a bit less violent but still packing incredible force.

The skipping brought us straight to the lakeside without mercy. Although our linear momentum had been all but cut to a tenth of our initial descent, tumbling across gravel and sand was far worse than skipping across the water. The transition from the evasive surface of water to the concrete grit of solid sandstone did not go unnoticed by my already-aching everything. I abandoned ship then, not that I really had a choice to hang on anyways, and tumbled across the small opening and right into a tree as the last of my momentum sputtered out.

The glider was not designed for such impacts, the sound of snapping strings and bending metal proclaiming the fragility that embodied aerodynamics but compromised longevity. Somewhere in the back of my dazed mind I felt the urge to check if the damage was as bad as it sounded, but I knew that ensuring Leah had escaped without major injury claimed priority.

After only a few seconds of motionless silence, I mustered the strength to let out a pained grunt and sit up, using the tree I had slammed into as much-needed leverage. I was on my feet a few seconds later, and I nearly fell right back down again when I let go of the tree. My legs were wobbly and tingly, and my sense of balance was on hiatus. I had also been winded by the collision, meaning my voice came out raspy and almost unrecognizable. When I first called out, I could hardly even hear myself.

I scanned the area and caught sight of her lying belly-up a few feet from the edge of the water. The only body language she advertised was the rapid rise and fall of her soaked chest, and I immediately feared the worst. I worried with a heavy heart that she had broken something important and that the whole campaign was shot. But hell, this entire visit to the Air Continent was already turning into a gigantic disaster anyway, so the integrity of the mission hardly mattered to me at this point.

I stumbled in her direction, nearly losing last night's dinner to a wave of nausea that threatened to send me right back into the dirty sand. I made my way over to her side and kneeled down. She still didn't move.

"Leah? A-are you hurt?" I coughed.

Her eyes stared blankly at the sky. She blinked once, and then closed her eyes and kept them that way. I tried to reach a hand out and see if I could ease any pain she might be experiencing, but she evidently felt that there was no need. She jabbed both of her front paws up into the air, and let out a victory screech.

"Wooo!" the soaking wet Fennekin proclaimed to the world, causing me to backpedal slightly in surprise. Her eyes shot open, and she looked at me and smiled from cheek to cheek. "That... was... _awesome_! We gotta do that again!"

I grunted as I pulled her up to a standing position. Even though she was quadrupedal, she still nearly fell over as her legs needed to adjust to supporting her weight on solid ground.

"You said we were gonna die," she prodded, turning to me and shooting me an 'I told you so' grin. She looked ridiculous trying to smile like that when her fur was soaked and everywhere. I might've smiled back if the circumstances weren't as they were.

"Do you mind telling me what the hell you were thinking?"

"What?" She tilted her head in slight confusion a bit a slightly narrowed her eyes. After a brief moment passed, she glanced behind me at whatever the remains of the glider looked like and raised her eyebrows to challenge. "You mean using Archen's glider?"

"Yes," I hissed. "Your plan to fly hundreds of feet above the ground with a contraption that neither of us had ever seen in use. Your decision to just hop off the top of a mountain and glide along the clouds like in a fantasy land, all while I was _unconscious_."

"Hey!" she interjected, her excitement already being overshadowed by a newfound agitation. "If you hadn't tried some stupid idea of your own that got yourself knocked out, I wouldn't have had to! A-And look!" She gestured to our surroundings. "We landed here and we're fine! If the map is correct then our destination isn't very far from here, so I really don't see a problem."

"We got lucky!" I snapped. "You had no idea what the hell you were doing on that thing, and don't deny it! Why didn't you at least wait until I woke up to propose the idea to me instead of having me wake up in the damn clouds!"

"Because you'd have said no!"

I facepalmed. "Did you ever stop to think about exactly _why_ I might've said no to an idea like that?"

"Oh, come on now," she scowled. "There was no nursery office to put you in, no village nearby where you could rest the day away. I had to take matters into my own paws, and when all was said and done, _things worked out_. End of story."

"Have you lost your mind? You're not even considering the repercussions!" I retaliated, glancing back at the glider's corpse for the first time. It was damaged as bad as its last moments had sounded, the flexible metal bent at extravagant angles and the carefully-designed flaps torn in a number of places. It formed an unrecognizable heap of junk that wasn't even worth bringing back with us. I angrily jabbed my arm in its direction. "Look!"

For a moment, regret flashed through her eyes. But it did not last. "I… look, we needed it to survive. Our lives are worth more than some piece of metal!"

"Archen is gonna be—"

"Last I checked, Archen isn't here!" she barked over me, lashing her tail furiously. "Ampharos wanted _us_ out here, not him. And here we are at the doorstep of our destination a lot quicker than we expected, and yet you're complaining!"

"Are you kidding me?" I seethed. "You always do this, you know!"

"Always do what?"

"You always rush ahead without a care in the world! When it works out, you play it off like it was the right decision solely because of the result. But even when it doesn't, you still claim you were on the right track instead of listening to me! We honestly could've died just now! Do you really think so little of my advice that you'd rather risk both of our lives to accomplish anything? Do you _ever_ stop to think before you act?"

"If I'd waited for you to wake up and make the decision, we'd still be walking by the time the sun went down!" She just shook her head for a moment before continuing. "Sorry, but you're not giving me any light here by blowing up over nothing. I'm not going to pretend like my way of doing things is always right, and I'm sorry for scaring you, but I think it was worth it. It… isn't worth getting upset over."

I exhaled through my nose, realizing that anything I said would either turn out hypocritical or would just be ignored outright. This argument was going nowhere, and clearly Leah wasn't going to budge as long as her ridiculous ideas didn't get us killed. And if one day one of them finally did get us killed, arguing about it wouldn't be of anyone's concern.

I whirled around and began heading down the side of the lake. "Let's just go before we waste all of our time. I'm not interested in discussing this right now."

I started walking down the beach at my own pace. Leah followed a few feet behind me without a word, and we hiked the short distance through the pines that led to where the village was supposed to be.

After about ten minutes of gradually dodging trees had passed, my outward appearance had calmed. I was still inwardly red hot with rage and perplexity, but the tension had reached a marginal degree of composure that allowed the two of us to tread onwards without letting the disagreement spill over into the silent woods. Conditioned chemistry between us allowed for our differences to hibernate when our priorities claimed dominion.

This was beneficial to me, because even though I wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment, I did have a question I needed answered.

"So," I said while keeping my eyes forward. "How exactly did you get us out of that crevice?"

"Hm...? Oh," I heard her voice from behind, and she shifted her pace to fall in line at my side. I glanced at her with my peripherals, and saw her awkwardly trying to walk forward on three legs while jabbing one of her paws into the fluff of her tail. She stopped to complete whatever it was she was doing, and I stopped as well, staring at her in bewilderment as she stiffly pulled out a stick that had been hidden in her tail. The fact that she was still soaking wet only added to the image's incongruity.

"What is it with you and your sticks?"

"It's not just any stick," she pointed out, presenting the item to me. "It's a warp wand. You remember how wands work, right?"

Infrequent recollections of trying to use wands were drawn to light right away. I hadn't ever been keen to use them, since they would always run out of uses when I needed them the most, and also since I had a horrible tendency to hold them the wrong way. After blasting myself instead of the intended target on plural occasions, always leading to a fit of laughter from behind me, I had simply stopped picking them up whenever I'd run across one in a dungeon. Leah had never had a problem with them, however, and would pick them up every now and then to use as she pleased. For a moment I wondered how many times I had thought she had disposed of a wand she had previously picked up, when they were actually stored away in the mass of her tail fur for future utilization. Even though I always manned the point whenever we were exploring as a duo, I still couldn't believe I'd never noticed she could do that. It was another weird Fennekin thing she did that I would probably find myself teasing her for in the distant future, but only if I could pray to find a time that she didn't act so aggravatingly foolhardy.

I nodded slowly at her question, but my own question still hadn't been answered. "So... what did you do with it?"

"Well what do you think?" Leah crowed. "I tried to grab your hand when you fell, and then I fell too, but then I zapped you and then myself with the wand before we could die. I got warped right to the surface and you got warped a little ways away. I'm guessing you got knocked unconscious because the teleportation didn't cancel out your downward descent."

"How...?" I began.

She just shrugged and said: "I always keep a wand handy in case I need it."

Wow. So Leah had apparently pulled a dues ex-machina once again. Why was I not surprised? This time I didn't even get to see it when it happened, but at this point it wasn't hard to believe. Who was I to question her skill in the clutch, when she'd pulled more tricks out of her fur - in this case her tail - than I could count? Even though she wasn't necessarily the best decision-maker, she knew how to facilitate a situation when things got dicey. I didn't even bother asking how she maintained enough focus to aim that wand at a falling target, while also falling herself, all when it was dark out. All I would get in response is her quadrupedal version of a shrug, likely followed by a verbal reply that would bounce the question off as consisting of nothing more than insignificant details.

"So that means I still took a pretty bad fall?" I reasoned with her comment about the wand not cancelling my momentum despite moving me to a different location. I certainly wouldn't have doubted the conjecture in that moment; I hadn't been feeling very physically-capable ever since waking up suspended upside-down in the sky. Now that I was walking on my own two legs, the soreness and mild injury from last night was painfully tangible. My shoulder hurt like hell where it had been clawed at, and just about everything else had some level of discomfort associated with it. If there wasn't a reason to keep moving, I'd have no qualms with climbing the nearest tree and curling up for a nap on an affordable branch.

"Yeah, there wasn't much I could do about that since you were already falling for a few seconds." Leah said. "But it could've been worse."

 _Yeah. I'd be dead if you missed._

I thought for a moment and asked, "You didn't save that Ursurang too, did you?"

She glanced at me with her nose up and her eyes narrowed and exclaimed, "Hell no!"

"Hm. Good," I replied. I felt compelled to smile, and did, although I didn't let her see it.

The conversation ended there, neither of us finding reason to stand around and waste any more time. The pit in my stomach was emptied from exhaustion and fading animosity, but we were so close now that worrying about diminutive discomforts was below my state of mind. Present turmoil between the pair of us rubbed off to be disturbed in the future, distantly echoing off of each tree we passed.

* * *

Right away, we were recognized by the village for our badges as well as our foreign species.

We were greeted as borderline saviors from another realm, and then happily welcomed into a society of sub-fifty Pokemon nestled on a river running between two mountains. Both parties understood well that it was a temporary arrangement, but I still relished in how cordial it all was in comparison to the village on the prairie. The chief, a burly middle-aged Hawlucha, labeled us as a "gift from the great Arceus himself" and demanded that a miniature feast be prepared right away, even though it was only about noon.

Following the satisfaction of our bellies, Leah and I were shepherded to their version of a medical facility. The place was really just another cubic shack that was an exterior copy of most of the other shacks in the settlement, and the inside wasn't much richer to boot. I caught sight and scent of a few medical remedies and herbs that were vividly familiar, but I could tell that these Pokemon weren't swimming in supplies to any stretch of the imagination. This was the kind of thing the continent's officials needed to provide their resident Pokemon, no matter how far out they lived. Instead, Team Prism was here to pick up the slack.

The village doctor, a level-headed Bayleef, worked hard and worked alone. She first touched up Leah, helping her dry off without looking like as big of a fluff ball as she would've otherwise, and then dismissing her. While Leah was off making her acquaintance with the rest of the village, the doctor shifted her attention to me. She grimaced when she saw the remains of my severed right vine, which was now positively half the length of my left. I remembered wincing as the raw flesh that had been torn into caressed the vine's inner-sheath, the cells still working to scab the wound. There had been no hiding the solemn background in my eyes as I stared the ripped tendril. I was still able to move it with ease, but what good would that be if its purpose had been stunted?

Fortunately for me, she estimated that it would only take a couple of weeks to grow back if I didn't try to use it and just let the plant tissue regenerate itself through proper hydration and photosynthesis. For good measure she gave me a therapy treatment of her heal pulse, which numbed the soreness and felt positively amazing. Considering I wasn't even aware that vines could grow back at all, and that I had totally forgotten that it had gotten severed with the distraction of waking up in the sky, I was satisfied. I would need to rely on my improving special attack to defend myself, and rely on my hands and remaining intact vine to do just about everything else, but that probably wouldn't be a huge issue as long as it was a temporary thing.

Once the welcoming dramatics died down, Leah and I typically found ourselves away from the settlement entirely, which was blandly referred to as "Riverville" by the small handful of inhabitants who bothered to care about a name. We had to make frequent trips back every now and then to sleep and resupply, but a day's lounging simply could not be afforded. Archen had been right; they had a lot of work to be done that exceeded the discharge of their available personnel.

One particular issue was fire. Three quarters of the residents consisted of either fighting-types or grass-types, and they didn't have a single fire-type at their disposal. Considering how off the grid this place was, the sudden arrival of one was monumental to them even though they didn't specifically request for it. Leah was asked left and right to light lamps and start big bonfires, sometimes even in the middle of the day just because the villagers liked it so much. She maintained her outward patience through it all, but I could tell she was growing restless with the attention and demand her fire was getting. Some of the villagers were so fascinated by her techniques of combustion that she was asked more than once if she could teach them how to breathe fire as well, even though I was fairly certain none of them were capable of acquiring such an ability without a technical machine. Most of those who asked her were kids, but some of them weren't, so she had her paws full.

I remembered how Serene Village had been surrounded by mystery dungeons from all angles, the spatial anomalies dotting the valley and serving as Team Prism's playground. But those dungeons had been uncomplicated and insubstantial in nature, and thus posed no real danger to Serene Village's lively children and stoic farmers. Out here, partially or fully-evolved Pokemon were more common as opposed to the exclusively-primary stages that were found back near the civilized areas of the Water Continent, who would fall to flames and leaves without significant resistance. The wild Pokemon out here held advantageous authority over the civilized, and the ones that leaked out of their dungeon habitats were prone to intrude far too close to the village than what most felt was safe.

Besides protection, the main purpose we came all this way was because the residents of unofficially-named Riverville wanted a map of the surrounding area for themselves. Leah and I had little experience with mapmaking besides some basic mumbo-jumbo that Archen had mumbled off to us, which had really just been intended to maintain conversation on Lapras's shell rather than educate for this kind of mission. I don't think Leah had picked up any of it at the time anyway since she had been too busy holding her breakfast down.

While I was at it, I went ahead and recorded the landmarks and landmasses I found on the Nexus, so that we wouldn't have to come back here ever. It piqued my interest that the Pokemon out here hadn't charted this land already, but I understood better once I learned of the obstacles involved with developing an innate cognition with this particular environment.

First of all, no flying-types were present in the village besides their flightless chief, so the excessive difficulties they faced with exchanging information as well as safely traveling long distances were justified. Dealing with this distance issue, along with the territorial problems with the ferals, was where Leah and I became the main benefactors.

Secondly, the land became no less dangerous than before, even though we were typically dealing with lower altitudes now. There still was little vegetation that could actually be utilized on a whim, and in many areas there was nothing but rock and dust that was continually cooked by the summer heat. These ambient features were all highlighted by the singular massive canyon that ripped through the middle of most of the range, cutting down into the capillaries of the world's crust. In some areas it was as wide as the valley itself, and as deep as any crevice in the area. Climbing to the bottom would be precarious, that was for certain.

Not that I was too keen to try, injured vine or not. I'd had enough of heights on this continent.

The first twelve days consisted of little more than walking, fighting wilds, and exploring and mapping the surrounding crags and mountains. More often than not due to the urgency and time frame of certain tasks, Leah and I had to split up and work separately. Some of the more capable Pokemon around would tag along every now and then to avoid situations where someone had to go out alone, but it still happened plenty of times due to specific circumstances calling for it on numerous occasions.

It certainly didn't take long for me to realize why this area needed help from the authorities of exploration and rescue on this damned continent. Part of me even desired compensation, not from the villagers but from the Air Continent officials, for making us travel this far away just to assist those under the jurisdiction of lazy deadbeats. I was also keenly aware, however, that it wasn't ideal for anyone to be living out here in the first place since much more habitable civilization was only a day or two's hike away, albeit a dangerous one. I really found it hard to relate with either side on the matter, so I just kept my mouth shut and remained disciplined. Alas: these kinds of thoughts were resigned to float around in my subconscious during the long days of walking, climbing, and charting.

All I wanted was to get through with this job and get back to my soft bed at the Society, where I could let my idle mind worry about why I turned into a Snivy instead of being out here wading through this crap. Sure, the Pokemon of Riverville were really nice, and the hospitality they provided held surprising quality considering how barren most of the surrounding land had shown to be. More than one of the grass-type females even tried to hit on me whenever they could catch me alone, flirtatiously raising their eyebrows and occasionally even making brash implications that would take us back to one of their tents. I deciphered it was all a product of boredom and untapped curiosity since they obviously never had any visitors (or maybe I was just that attractive - ha!). I naturally had no time for such entertainment and declined every time, but I would be lying to say I wasn't amused.

Regardless of minimal distraction, life was simple: wake, eat, work, eat, sleep, repeat. It looked like that was how the two week tenure would play out. And it almost did.

But around noon of day thirteen, that changed.

Leah and I had been split up the past two days to maximize the distance we covered, trying to put the finishing touches on the map of the valley so that we could have the last day freed up for other things. Even on the days we worked together, we didn't talk much beyond what basic communication was necessary for efficiency and survival, possibly a faint reminiscence of the heated disagreement upon our arrival. Most of it was credited to mental fatigue as well, but it really wasn't serving me much good regardless of where the blame sat, and I was really beginning to grow tired of the lack of communication. I worried she would make a rash decision without me being there to talk her out of it. I wouldn't really get the chance to stop and talk with her right away, however, because of the weight of the report we received.

The day started off with no immediate differences from any other day out here. I woke up, stretched and adjusted my scarf, ate a quick breakfast to provide me some energy for the long walk ahead. I gathered the makeshift cartography materials that I had thrown together for myself with some of Riverville's unused raw assets, and headed out to finally finish the illustration that Hawlucha wanted.

I pushed aside the tent flap to find that Leah was out conversing with some kids from the village, and I shook my head in disapproval. She was supposed to be out sketching and exploring already since she was a bit behind on her designated area. I had planned to walk over and let her know about it when a claw tapping on my shoulder stopped me short.

It was Hawlucha, with a solemn expression on his face. This guy had shown to be calm and apathetic when a situation was bad and optimistic at every other time, so I could tell right away that something exceptional must be amiss.

"Good morning to you, wise Sage," the brawny chief saluted. "I trust you were planning to map of the ridge over by the eastern mountains today?"

I nodded absently, focusing my attention away from my sidetracked partner. "Yeah. That's all that's left besides the hills to the southwest. Leah's gonna take care of that," I said. Hawlucha's posture was domesticated but the uneasiness in his eyes made it meaningless, so I went ahead and questioned him. "...Is something wrong?"

"You could say that," he confirmed with his eastern accent. "I was out fixing this damned leak in my roof when I looked over and saw a meteor falling into the valley. It was giant, at least several times my size! What's worse, it fell right around where the Great Canyon opens up."

Interests raised and zombie-morning attitude dropped, I opened my eyes a bit wider and stared curiously. "A meteor? Is this common?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. Small space rocks have shown a tendency to fall and be scattered around the canyon from years past, but nothing like this."

"Then how do you know it was a meteor?" I asked.

Before he could answer, Leah's voice sounded off to my side, and I turned to see her strolling up.

"What's going on?" she asked, glancing between Hawlucha and I.

"A giant unidenfitifed flying object has crashed in a section of the Great Canyon that is near us. It was absolutely massive too!" Hawlucha answered her. "I was going to request the two of you check it out to see if Arceus isn't displeased with my village."

Leah tilted her head a little at his reasoning, but neither of us protested. We were here to serve, so serve we would.

Leah and I made our way in that direction right away, since we were already prepared to set out mapping anyway. I dumped the charts and pencils into the treasure bag and slung it around my shoulder, wincing slightly as the strap rubbed against the tender spot. My vine had been slowly growing day by day, but the entire thing ached incessantly and would still need a couple days before it could be used again. Although I found myself missing it all the time, it was usually involving low-maintenance tasks where convenience alone was compromised. Most of my time out here had been spent walking perpetually, like what I was doing at the moment, and hardly required using my upper body anyway.

The two of us talked little at first. The awkwardness from our little squabble had been grounded down into an afterthought following two weeks of working hard together and sometimes struggling when separated. Regardless, I was fatigued and ready to get back to the Water Continent, where I felt the coveted keys to my human origin still awaited me. Mawile would have a report on the evidence Archen brought back with him, and I would get to return to work in an environment that wasn't so undesirable. Leah looked like she was just about ready to be done with it too, and that was where our conversation started once we reached the first dip of the canyon.

"I know I said I wanted to make a map of the world," she began, breaking the silence between us. "—But this is hard. Harder than I thought it would be, to be honest."

"We're still new at this," I reassured. "I think Ampharos knew this wouldn't be easy for us. And I think this is his way of ensuring we're fit for this job."

Leah glanced at me sideways, being careful to place her paws correctly as the two of us made our way down a trail leading into the heart of the canyon. She tilted her head and asked, "What do you mean?"

"He's throwing us into the fire, and seeing how it molds us," I explained. It was something I had been thinking about for a while, and had come to terms with. "Think about it. We've been working out here for longer than we'd been at the Society before even leaving to come here. He clearly wants to know right off the bat if we can handle ourselves not just against hostile enemies, but against a hostile environment too. All while completing a specific task."

"That does make sense," she nodded once. "But why here? Couldn't he have picked somewhere a little less dangerous?"

I shrugged. "Would've been nice, yeah. Then again, it's not like anyone back at the Society likely knows this area well. There isn't really much here."

"…Well I'm just glad it's almost over," she said. "I'm looking forward to cartography missions that involve treasure and ruins and civilizations and trade routes. Anything beats all this stupid rock and dust." She picked up a pawful of pebbles and dust off of the ground and let it trickle through her outstretched paw as she said it, for the purpose of emphasizing her point.

I opened my mouth to respond, but something stopped me. Narrowing my eyes slightly, I slowed my pace and glanced down at the powdered rock that had settled on the ground, with a bit more following it as my partner dusted her paw off. I knelt down and felt it with my hand, getting some on it and raising it to my nose.

"What's up?" Leah inquired, also stopping.

"Two things," I said, glancing up at a cylindrical rock formation next to us. "One is what's up there."

Leah followed my gaze upward and locked onto a massive gash cutting into the structure. Although looking at it wasn't enough to stick an age to the obviously-unnatural occurrence, the fact that the granules of dust that settled underneath it hadn't already been picked up by the boundless wind currents confirmed it was recent. Something had smashed into it at an angle, and it really wasn't hard to assume what.

"Two is this," I held out my hand, which was still a bit dusty. I looked her in the eyes. "This dust isn't just made up of microscopic fragments of rock... These are ashes."

Even as I was the one to say the words, my heart still started to race. Leah took a half-step back and glanced up at the monumental rock that no longer resembled the rest of the cylindrical structures because of the new gouge in its side. We were both thinking the same thing. The idea had been lingering in my head ever since Hawlucha spelled out what he saw, and this easily confirmed it.

"The culprit could be here…" Leah began. "We could catch him!"

"Pipe down!" I hissed under my breath. "We need to think about this for a—"

Leah was already running in the direction of the crash. My heart plummeted.

"Leah!" I hissed as loud as I could without outright shouting. "Stop!"

She didn't stop.

Stumbling a bit off the jump, I accelerated around the corner after her. No thought was awarded to the dangers of the situation now that it had fallen apart without the danger even showing its face yet. And if it did, then Leah wouldn't have time to apologize. It really wouldn't matter much at that point anyway. I needed to hurry.

Glancing at various landmarks, including notable places where there was damage to the rocky ascensions, I used the evidence around me to know where I was supposed to be headed. I knew it couldn't be far...

After hopping over a stray boulder and swinging around a final corner of a different cylindrical uprising, I finally caught sight of Leah again. My heart leaped in relief when I saw she was standing upright and uninjured, but instantly fell when the structure that sat before her registered.

"Oh shit..."

There might have once been recognizable differences between the eon twins of legend, but those attributes had been reduced to nothing but a lifeless gray. Down to the smallest detail, the smallest hair; it was all just cruel nothingness. Even the eyes, which were both extended wide open in fear, refused to stare back. It was the opposite sensation I had stomached with the other one, and I wasn't really sure which was worse.

"It's Latias, isn't it?" I breathed. I couldn't raise my voice about a whisper; the very act of talking threatened to disrupt the rhythm of terror that ran cold the blood rushing through me that had moments ago been heated with aggravation. Everything about this was wrong.

Leah turned her head at the sound of my voice, almost as if she was surprised I followed her. She didn't answer, not that I expected her to anyway. We both remembered what Archen had said. We both knew.

I took a step forward, and she looked up. I half-expected her to snarl at my approach, the heated exchange from before still barely a minute old, but instead she had a rather bewildered look on her face. She stared at nothing in particular, off into the distance, and sniffed the air. She seemed to be trying to pinpoint something at the edge of her senses.

"Sage?" she said in a voice as nervous and uncertain as I'd ever heard her.

"W-What?" I answered, taking another step forward.

She sniffed the air again, this time with increased tenacity. Then she voiced her concern, and even as she said it, I could feel the surrounding air begin to get warmer.

"…Is something burning?"


	28. Convergent Haze

Chapter 28 - Convergent Haze

The stiff atmosphere was ripped apart by a burst of heat so fierce that even my fire-type companion impulsively shied away from the invisible source. My lungs were stripped of air and a monumental amount of pressure clouded the rocky clearing and instantly dazed my defenses. My initial instinct was to put distance between myself and the remains of Latias in fear that it was the cause, but the action proved to do no good as the heat only grew stronger from all directions. In only a few seconds, an indistinct burning smell had transformed into a clout that rippled the air with waves of energy.

Our immaculate disorientation would quickly be answered by what manifested as a physical representation of the rising temperature. The ground began to turn a fatal shade of orange in an area barely far away enough from Leah and I to not melt us outright, leading to us both further backpedaling in fright. Out from the ground bubbled a half-sphere of lava and white luminosity that rose taller and wider than both of us combined, blasting me with another wave of unbearable heat. Steam erupted from the flames in massive amounts to settle around the area and cast a humid haze that trapped the energy and made it hotter still. Eventually the spiraling temperature reached a terminal point as its demonic source made its silhouette visible within the mess. As if this canyon hadn't been hell enough for us, now its demonic keeper was emerging for reasons unknown.

"S-Sage?" Leah whimpered, the entirety of her confidence smoldered by the surrounding developments. "I-I think you were right!"

The wind-carried steam would collide with the ambient flames to send most of them away in a whirl, but the heat remained in place. The burning smell was still as potent as ever, and the charred earth glistened under the prevalent beast that now poised over us. The fireball had served as a magical entry from the underworld, and what was left of its raging flow now spiraled around in harmony with its presence.

The beast's maroon body armor violently reflected the glare, and the yellow and red crest donning its jaws glimmered on its own accord. Any one of its four legs were almost as tall as I was, and its conic body comfortably towered over us. Its height was further increased by the mysterious projections that stuck out from either side of its hunched back and converged above it to form a ring. The beast's appearance was divine and the pressure it exuded was otherworldly, but it did not allow us to gape for long. Its gaze corporeally sought purpose as it crisply moved between us, and it flexed its muscled joints as it spoke.

"You impudent fools!" a masculine shout rang furiously through the canyon. "State your purpose in this remote land!"

My heart thumped against my chest with each syllable. "W-we were just here to check if-"

"If your transgressions were a success?!" he interrupted. "Are you cretins behind the murder of the Eon Twins?!"

"No! Of course not!" Leah exclaimed as defensively as she could in the face of such a powerful Pokemon.

"You dare lie to my face?!" he challenged, some of the lingering ashes gathering luminosity again and swirling with increased intensity at the boom of his voice.

I could feel the heat rising still. The arrogance of this eruptive newcomer might've found the traction to irritate us if we weren't so intimidated by his raw presence. It was all so sudden and so explosive that rational thought was unable to break through the fight or flight instinct that had me shook to the core. This was not going to end well if one of us didn't do something.

"I am aware of your involvement with Latios's demise, for I sensed your presence at Mystifying Forest!" he roared, making my heart drop in fear.

 _He thinks we're the ones who are turning Pokemon to stone?_

"Woah, hol-"

He cut me off, not caring to hear. "And now you appear here at the site of his sibling's shared fate! Your carelessness shall be your end!" He reared up and howled into the afternoon sky, the sun's rays seeming to emanate from his proclamation. "I, Volcanion the Avenger, master of fire and water, shall arrange your meeting with the afterlife and put an end to this meddling!"

That didn't sound good.

The cardinal point of the ring sticking out of the beast's back loosened and then separated into two bulky, flexible appendages. They were both lowered towards us like cannons as they began collecting energy at the barrel, revealing their offensive purpose in an absurdly hostile gesture. The surrounding flames convulsed again, but this time into a compressed ball of pure thermal energy that grew from the tips of the pair of pumps. It was a declaration that no more words were to be shared, and that our fate was sealed. The yelling exchange had only lasted a few seconds and a fight had already begun to start. But what could we honestly have done against this legendary beast to deter him? What could we do now? We didn't even get to prepare for this!

I braced myself to leap out of the way, conceding that resistance was the only option, when the flow of time itself quite literally prevented me from carrying out the action.

A blue light brighter than Volcanion's flames materialized out of thin air in the middle of our misunderstanding, surprising everyone, and then pulsed in all directions. As my feet left the ground in my desperate dive out of the way, my momentum was manipulated and I was suspended in the air, unable to further affect my own movement and only able to watch in bewilderment. My airborne motion slowed to a point of near-stillness, and I immediately found it difficult even to form a single thought in a timely manner. It was as if time itself had truly slowed, and I was stuck watching my death in slow motion.

When the proportions of this happenstance were shattered by what emerged from the pulse of light, I couldn't have made sense of the situation even if my cranial processes weren't slowed to the rate of my inching leap. The Pokemon behind the ripple showed itself beneath the shining blue light, and I was able to catch some of its features as it magically appeared out of thin air. I caught sight of its swirling green head first before its tiny fairy-like wings quickly stole away my attention. Those beating wings, along with the rest of the newcomer's body, weren't affected by the slowness at all.

The benign being glanced once at Volcanion's attack, which had been released at the moment of its entry, and floated back a bit. Still moving at an average speed while the world around was drastically decelerated, the newcomer hummed in a notably feminine voice and held her hands out. A ball of pure green energy formed and grew substantially by absorbing the air around us. Letting the attack charge for what might've been a second to her and might've been a year to me, she snapped her fingers and let loose her own attack to intercept.

A snap of her fingers brought the end of the strangest experience I'd ever felt. I wasn't expecting the rate of time passing to return to normal with so little warning, and I fell flat on my face as though it had been flowing regularly all along.

Before I could hastily pick myself up off the ground, the eruption of two malignant forces colliding blasted my ear drums and sent a shock wave throughout the entire area. The energy ball's impact with Volcanion's attack had cancelled out its forward acceleration entirely, releasing massive amounts of energy in all directions instead of the direct destruction that the fireball was intended to inflict on its two targets.

Ears slightly ringing, my head shot up to gauge the threat, still unconvinced that the situation was anywhere near under control. The arduous effort led to my bearing witness of a divine standoff when the sight before me registered. The legendary Volcanion was staring down our tiny green savior; a furious glare of fire crossing the newcomer's icy challenge.

"Enough!" her echoing voice resounded through the area. It sang softly like a bell, but the underlying imposition was not easily missed by the opposition, as intended. " _Volcanion autim mons igneus_. You dare challenge these innocent souls for their motives at this cardinal scene, and yet you have no more place here than they!"

"Celebi! You- you coward!" the maroon giant snarled right back at her. "These two mettling ticks have been scouring the region all while this has been happening! Evidence clearly points to their involvement!"

The tiny green Pokemon gestured to make a hasty response, but the continuation of Volcanion's rant cut her off.

"Something is going on here, and we both know it! First the guardians' monuments disappear from Primeval Island, and then legendary Pokemon are being turned into stone! And then you! Where have you even-"

" _In vita mea!_ I said _enough_!" Celebi commanded sternly, cutting off his blaring diatribe. She then floated down towards the ground, where both Leah and I were lying still and watching the bewildering scene before us with widened eyes. The fairy gestured to both of us, shooting Entei another icy glare of accusation. "We all want to know what's going on, and so do these two! _Vobis fatuus_ , observe their badges and equipment! These are not enemies!"

Volcanion squinted his eyes to observe Leah and I closer than he had bothered to before, and what appeared to be reluctant recognition dawned on his face. He cleared his throat and mumbled a few unintelligible curses to himself, most of his aggressiveness mellowing into lukewarm disgruntlement.

"You- hmm," he grunted with pause. "You labor for the Expedition Society on the Water Continent, correct?"

Leah and I both stayed silent and still for an awkwardly long moment. The fact that we were being spoken to hadn't quite registered yet in light of the shock from what just went down.

"Might you be deaf?" Volcanion jeered at our lack of an immediate response, flexing the pumps on his back in riled impatience.

"Uhh..." I stammered, clearing my throat and collecting myself as much as possible. "Oh... yes, we're from the Expedition Society here on a mission. We were out here to investigate something that crashed, and... well..."

Everyone glanced at the stone statue of Latias, and I instantly felt awkward. So much had happened in the past few minutes that it was impossible to comprehend it all in one burst. All of us stared at the reason we were here for one big misunderstood situation to play out, and with no evident culprit present. This was going nowhere.

"Hmph. Celebi," Volcanion beckoned in a half-whispered tone with his eyes narrowed skeptically at us. "Might you be able to purify her?"

" _Non pugnes_. I have already tried with many victims before and made no progress," Celebi replied with a distressed shake of her head. "I assume that's why you had been looking for me?"

Volcanion grunted in affirmation, and then huffed as his impatience began to show its colors once again. "That is a massive letdown. But... if that is the case, and the culprit is also not here, then my presence serves no purpose."

He turned to give one final threatening glare at Leah and I, baring his teeth as he bid us an ill-tempered farewell.

"Heed my words, young explorers. You have escaped with your lives today, but I recommend that you do not test the boundaries of my patience. It is imperative that you do not involve yourselves further. This business is not for mortals."

The volcanic legendary didn't grant us a window to respond, not that we had anything to say anyway. He wasted no time clearing out after the last of his parting words were asserted, pointing his two cannons at the ground and blasting himself into the air using the force of the compressed water that was pumped out. He flew up and out of sight, showering us with mist residue from the water being sprayed through the air. The chill of the mist presented a fine aternative to the fiery death I had nearly been exposed to moments before, and I didn't think I had ever been that relieved to see anyone leave my line of sight.

The pressure partially lifting from the atmosphere from Volcanion's exit, I found my breath and shook my head, trying not to become overwhelmed by what had just happened. Leah did the same, blinking a few times and twitching her ears subconsciously. I had been holding my breath for what might have been the entirety of the encounter, and self-awareness of the fact burdened me to fill my lungs again.

" _Quid faciam_...?" Celebi muttered vigilantly under her breath, resting her hand under her chin to ponder the situation a bit herself.

She slowly floated over to Latias's remains, and Leah and I watched in silence as she attempted to perform some kind of process on the stone. She coating it in the same pulsing blue light from before, pouring her energy into the lifeless structure. After a minute passed with no noticeable results, she gave it up and exhaled in defeat. " _Nihil operatur, est desperato_..."

Leah took a hesitant step forward to talk to her. "Um... miss Celebi, was it?" she spoke up, getting the fairy's attention away from her unfruitful task. "What exactly is going on?"

"Oh! Pardon me," she acknowledged with a small bow of her head. "Yes, my name is Celebi. Who might you be, young explorers of the Expediton Society?"

"You really are Celebi?" Leah gaped with widened eyes, ignoring her question. "I-I've heard about you! You control the flow of time or something like that, right?"

"Well, I actually don't control it, silly," she corrected the daunted Fennekin with an obnoxious giggle. "It controls me!"

"Well it's uh... nice to meet you, I guess," I said rubbing the back of my head. "I'm Sage, and this is Leah. Thank you for saving us."

"Ah! It is my pleasure!" she beamed. "Despite his erratic self-indulgence, Volcanion hasn't always acted this aggressive. But..." She paused for a moment to sigh and lower her head. "...Unfortunately, the Pokemon of exceptional hierarchy have been ill at ease for the past year or so due to some unmanageable circumstances. And now this whole stone business has everyone blaming each other... sometimes I even wonder if I can trust some of those I associate with. It is _durrisimos ut vivet_."

Leah and I shared a nervous glance, and my heart dropped. Were things really this bad that even legendary Pokemon were becoming overwhelmed? It was bad enough that mythical beings were being targeted by whatever force was turning Pokemon to stone, but I had hoped someone would have a better handle on the situation.

Celebi's expression suddenly changed to stern again, and she frowned slightly as though something in the at the edge of her senses had caught her attention that we couldn't detect.

"I imagine you also bear your own burdens at this moment, but I fear I cannot spare the time for an extended chat. I have important matters to attend to," she said as she floated a few meters higher. She began to glow with the same blue light that had enveloped her arrival, and swayed her arms to extend from her sides.

"W-wait!" Leah exclaimed. "Where are you going?"

"To pursue a goal that hopefully aligns with yours, dearest friends from the Exploration Society. I have work to do." The light enveloped her entirely, and her silhouette gave a parting salute. " _Optimus fortuna!_ Tell Jirachi I said hello!"

The light grew to a blinding potency, and I was forced to shield my eyes. When the glow died down, the mysterious individual had vanished. Just like that, our savior was gone.

The aftershock still remained as the blood rush of nearly being cooked alive finally began to die down. A full minute of silence would slither by before Leah finally turned to me to speak.

"Well... that was something."

I crossed my arms and nodded slowly. "Yep."

"...Hey Sage?"

"Yes, Leah?"

"I don't think I like this continent very much."

I shook my head and exhaled deeply. "We can definitely agree on that. Now come on, let's head back."

* * *

A full moon coated the ocean to allow us a bit of restless observation, perhaps for the sake of finding some distraction. But not even the rocking sway of Lapras's buoyant hold on the water's surface, nor its unpleasant effects on my partner, provided enough amusement for peace of mind. There wasn't anything out on the open water other than our vehicle anyway, who wasn't very talkative for extended periods of time. This was where thoughts and idle tasks reigned supreme. The body was drawn to unwind as much as possible while the mind would hopefully follow, but I knew that was a pipe dream. The clarity of completing our Society duties might have helped to filter the stress a bit, but there was still a whole lot to sleep on. Too much to handle at once.

In the darkness of night I scowled from within the grim aftershock of it all. What a ludicrous trap this whole thing had been. One quintessential journey across the sea was all it took to manifest the context of our plight, when we were really supposed to have been backtracking. Oh, sure, we had done what we came to do, and we even stayed the last day to help that damned village even after what happened in the Great Canyon. Their little irrelevant map was completed, and was even saved into the Nexus for the Society's use. We called Dedenne once we could get a signal and we got the hell out of there in sterling fashion. Now we were finally heading back and everything was supposed to be fine, except that it wasn't even in the neighborhood of fine.

All of these events didn't settle right with me. It was that same old disruptive feeling that something was amiss that had become familiar from my final days in Serene Village. Something else was going on here than just Pokemon being turned to stone, and nothing could convince me otherwise at this point. Never mind the defiance of the know laws of the universe. Never mind even the rumors and the reports that share minimal connection but line up perfectly. That was all just an anchor. What bothered me was the underlying intangibles, the whispers beneath the matter that had been turned rigid and lifeless. How does my own dilemma line up so well with all of this? How does a human get dropped into a Pokemon world that immediately begins to fall victim to a cataclysmic series of events that nobody can figure out the answer to? News of indiscriminate incidents in faraway lands was one thing, but witnessing two legendary beings fall from their rightful place in the sky right in front of my face was what I couldn't wrap my head around. The threats tossed my way from that scary encounter in that underground tomb suddenly didn't seem so empty. Coincidences were material of fantasy for me when the big picture showed its true colors, and right now everything was turning a stone-colored gray with no explanation.

I hated to admit it within myself, but I no longer saw any of this as perfectly mendable without some kind of lasting friction. These problems held purpose beyond what could be seen and controlled under law and order, and they clearly weren't just going to go away easily. Not with me around, at least. I knew that was the truth as soon as my obligation to look into this began to form on this introspective boat ride back to the Water Continent. Perhaps I had made a mistake by arguing Leah's urgency to investigate in the canyon; the mistake not being in a desire to stay safe, but rather in a decision to not try and attack the problem. Maybe I really was just cowering in the face of adversity, and my escapist mentality that favored longevity was only hindering my presence here in the long run. Because by the looks of it, my presence here may very well be directing the outcome of all of this. And that absolutely frightened me.

I needed to think about this for a moment... starting with that damned legendary that was inches from killing us. Volcanion was his name? Master of fire and water? He had claimed whatever all of this amounted to was no business for mortals, and I wasn't explicitly disagreeing with him. Just how out of hand was this getting that it would be this way?

I scowled again at the thought. Evidently things were bad enough to justify a massive fireball being tossed our way even though we didn't do anything wrong. What a load of bullshit that was.

And then there was that other Pokemon, the one who saved us with some kind of time-manipulation that was well out of my league of abilities. She... was a bit strange. Her shifty mood had been really unpredictable, and she didn't really give us much to go on besides her sideline confirmation that this stone business was no everyday violation. When she actually bothered to speak the common tongue, she had mentioned discord with "Pokemon of exceptional hierarchy", which could be easily assumed was another way to say 'legendary Pokemon'. That statement did not promise brighter days in any context, especially coming from a primary source.

I'd seen my first two legendary Pokemon with that encounter besides the likes of Jirachi, and I already didn't like their class. As cool and clutch as Celebi had been in that scary moment, sensibility made me pause and wonder if she would've intervened if we had not been Society members. Their attitude appeared to scream in the face of logic and morality in revolting fashion. Was this how most legendary Pokemon acted? Or were they truly just as overwhelmed as anyone by all of this? I was particularly put off by the failure of what could be seen as a granted defense against worldly disorder. I mean, how much can be taken for granted now that the gods themselves are supposedly shitting bricks? Perhaps I'd voice some of my concerns with Jirachi whenever I could catch him awake, since Celebi implied that they had met and were on friendly terms.

A discrete noise poked at my awareness and courted me back to where I was sitting on Lapras's shell. Leah shifted in place a few feet away, gingerly mumbling to herself in her comfortless stupor. I glanced at her and held my gaze. Her second time riding Lapras had been much less troubling for her so far, but mellow uneasiness still assembled in her features every time we swayed in the waves. With little else to do, I stared at her for a period of time lost to the wind and brooded over every experience we'd had. The strategies and games, the hugs and comfort, and even the arguments and disagreements. The good and bad times shared the forefront of my tiring mind, and coalesced into little maxims of how much I cared about her. She was my best friend, and she was still probably the only one I could trust completely. So then was I right to want to keep us away from all of this? Now with the imminent threat of turning to stone and the even bigger threat of some undisclosed plot looming over everything, I wasn't sure. Did I pursue where my answers likely sat waiting surrounded by unseen danger, or did I flee for safety's sake?

And where to flee? The encounter back in that underground tomb made me certain that conflict was inevitable, inviting all the mental preparation I could muster for what would certainly come. But now that it was happening, and I had seen it for myself, I simply didn't want to believe in it. Something malignant and absolute in nature was brewing, something big, and I wasn't sure if I was ready for it. I was still learning how this world worked, but this world wasn't willing to wait on me. Whoever those Beeheyem worked for, whatever was causing all of this, was throwing me into the fire and watching to see if I flourish or flounder. Confidence in myself and those around me wouldn't carry me far when my muscles and nervous pathways were morphed into rock... dammit, where was I going with this?

The sound of my sigh was conquered by the passing wind. Even after sleeping part of the day away on Lapras's back, I was still really tired. I was tired of the increasing uncertainty that the approaching future held, but tired from the fatigue as well. At this point I was resigned that I probably always would be; that was just part of working hard for a cause in life. Although I certainly loved what I was doing now for a living, it still would've been nice to not have all of these misgivings nipping at my tail. The anxiety wasn't helping me get any shut eye, especially since I had a bad tendency to roll off on doubt-ridden tangents like I was doing at the moment.

I consciously blinked in the moonlight, dryly submitting to my own self-awareness. I was too exhausted to be doing this, and we probably weren't far from Lively Town sailing at this rate. So for my own sake I let my doubts trail off with their temporary victory fading into irrelevancy, and I found time to capture some of the vital sleep I had been missing while I still could.

Blissful solitude took the form of a catnap that would last only a couple of hours. It ended when I felt a paw prod my shoulder to draw my mind out of sleep mode. A second nudge succeeded to make me open my eyes halfway to look up at the sky, and a sharper third quickly prevented me from closing them again right before I was able to.

"Time to wake up," Leah whispered as she groggily retracted her paw, lucidly still in the process of waking up herself. "We're here."

I could already detect the patented humidity settling over my exposed backside. The sound of waves beating irregularly against the bank as well as the stocks raising the port coordinated with the sound of the wind that had followed us. Four of my senses indicated that our journey was complete, with sight soon to follow. I grunted and raised my head, the lack of an elongated sleep contesting my attempt to move and acutely confirm our arrival back.

Before me I observed the nighttime ghost of a civilization typically bustling with life, now as barren as could be. It was exactly like returning from the mission with Team Carbon a couple weeks back, only this time not even the nocturnal Pokemon were showing their faces. I stretched my legs as I mindlessly observed what little there was to look at under the illuminating lampposts, and then hopped off of Lapras onto Water Continent land once more. Leah did the same, stumbling a bit, and then performing the same 'kissing the ground' ritual she had done after her first agonizing voyage.

"Haah," she yawned. "I am so happy to be back. I missed this place."

Our voices sounded intrusive on the silence that had settled once we moved into the town and farther from the restless ocean, but I didn't mind. It had all been getting to my head anyway.

"Me too," I mumbled in agreement.

A few more seconds of walking in silence passed before Leah asked, "Do you think they've figured something out from what Archen brought back?"

I mulled over the question as we approached the door to the headquarters, starting my answer with a loose shrug. "I dunno. We'll have to find out, probably in the morning since I doubt anyone is up this late."

"True," my companion murmured, glancing up at the moon as I fiddled with the door lock. "What time do you think it is?"

"Too late to be awake," was the curt answer I gave as the lock finally conceded and I began to walk inside. "I don't know about you, but I'm headed straight to be-"

"Team Prism!" I heard the familiar voice of the chief holler out to us. He was sitting on the floor of the lobby for whatever reason, with a moderate collection of illustrations and documents messily spread out before him. The orbs on his tail and forehead were lit up for the purpose of viewing the makeshift setup, and he held what looked like a mug of coffee in his hand as he glazed over his work.

I rubbed my eyes and tentatively narrowed them. "Chief, uh, what are you doing?"

"Why, I'm working! I was just waiting down here for your return," He smiled at us lethargically, a mixture of welcoming and enervation composing his expression. There were bags under his eyes, but he looked to not mind the exhaustion one bit despite how it tried to dominate his middle-aged features.

"Do you want a chair or something?" Leah asked curiously.

Ampharos just chuckled. "I'm afraid not. Chairs are for the weak! Anyway, Dedenne received the message you sent from Barem Town on your way back, relayed it to me. By the sound of it, you have quite a story to tell."

Leah absently nodded her head a few times. I just rubbed my shoulder and nodded once with a drawn-out yawn.

Ampharos took notice of our debilitated state right away and beckoned us to our room. "But go on, go on to bed. You can tell me about tomorrow when you've rested."

"What about you? Aren't you tired too?" Leah asked him offhandedly, already heading in that direction with me not far behind.

"Oh, I'll be fine," he waved us off. "Sleep will come when responsibility is fulfilled."

The brief exchange ended with that as Ampharos went back to whatever it was he was doing. It was a little weird that he was trying to do his paperwork on the uncomfortable floor instead of his office where he had a chair and a desk, but I didn't pay it any mind. I wasn't puzzling over anything insignificant like that now that we were back. I just wanted to lay down and rest.

My feet carried me through the doorway curtain and to my bed, where I retired once more and embraced the thought of sleep.

"Our trip didn't exactly go the way I thought it would," Leah whispered in the darkness as I heard her settling into her own bed. "But at least we're back now."

"In one piece," I sleepily added.

"Yeah..." she said, going silent for a moment before speaking up again. "You know, we finally got to visit another continent. In some ways that part was pretty cool."

"That's true," I replied softly. "But I still think this continent is better."

"I do too," she admitted after giving it a second of thought. "I've always wanted to leave the Water Continent and explore the world, but finally getting the chance to do it really makes me appreciate what I have here."

I shifted in place to find a comfortable position to face my partner, who was staring at the ceiling in the luminescence filtering through the window.

"I kinda missed this place even though we were only gone for two weeks," she continued. "Hopefully we won't get assigned somewhere else for a while."

"Depends on how this whole stone business plays out," I sighed. "Something tells me we aren't gonna be taking many breaks any time soon."

"Mhm," she mumbled in an acquiescent tone. "Hey... by the way, I'm sorry for yelling at you before..."

"Hm? You mean in the canyon?"

"Yeah."

"Oh," I whispered in a genuine tone. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that too. And also for by the lake... Look, it's no big deal. We're gonna disagree from time to time, and that was a pretty pressing situation anyway. No need to feel bad about it."

"That's part of the problem though," she responded. "It was a pressing situation and I made the wrong decision."

"What do you mean?" In the dark room I squinted my eyes in bemusement.

"Well, we'd be dead if not for that Celebi," Leah presented. "We could've avoided all that by just walking away as soon as we saw the ashes. You were right."

"But then we never would've gotten the information about the legendary Pokemon," I countered. "I... I guess that's a situation where nobody was really right or wrong. If I were you, I just wouldn't overthink it."

I capped off my downplay with a defeated yawn. I was soon gonna pass out talking like this.

"Alright," Leah whispered. "I just wanted you to know that I couldn't be doing this without you. You're smart, and you hold me up. Even when we disagree on something."

"...I will." My voice was muffled by the clump of feathers that my nose was pressing into. The silence around me was slipping into the peaceful haze of sleep, with only my own breathing sounding coherent.

\\\\\\\\\

Waking up wasn't fun. Fortunately, Ampharos let us sleep in until noon because of our late arrival, or else there would've been a problem. I'm not sure how I'd have managed getting up for morning announcements after the lackluster amount of sleep we got. It was fabulously appealing sleep, but I would've killed for more. Leah and some of the other early birds thought it was funny how much I hated mornings, but I didn't find it very amusing. Would I ever get used to this?

Alas, Ampharos had coined it best when he was busy working on the floor the night previous. "Sleep will come when responsibility is fulfilled" when you work at the Expedition Society. And right now, our 'responsibility' was to tell Archen about the bludgeoned lifespan of his favorite toy.

"My blood, sweat, and tears!" the flightless bird exclaimed, clutching his head in anguish about the news. He turned to us and angrily gestured to his incapacitated wings. "How am I supposed to fly now, huh?"

The loud sound of biting and chewing a few feet away interrupted his tirade. Jirachi was hovering over by the window of the main Nexus room that we were hanging out in, eating an apple and observing the situation. "You know," he incoherently jabbered. "I'm the one who built it for you, so it's not building like another glider would be any sort of issue. I _am_ a genius after all."

"Ugh, I suppose..." Archen complied, hanging his head a bit and then turning back to Leah and I. "Just... please don't break my stuff again. Please. If I couldn't fly, th-then I'd lose my job here."

Jirachi began cracking up while hovering in place. "No you wouldn't you dolt! You worry too much man!"

"Ampharos doesn't seem like the type to kick you out for someone else breaking your stuff," Leah chuckled.

"I guess not... but still... that thing was my baby..."

"Your _baby_? Didn't I just remind you that _I'm_ the one who built it?" Jirachi chimed in.

I was in the process of excusing myself from the pointless turn this conversation had taken when Mawile appeared from the hallway and graciously saved me the effort. She was looking a bit better than she had when I'd last seen her two weeks prior, evidently improving her sleep schedule to some extent. But similar to Ampharos, the bags under her eyes remained as a badge to her arduous research that occasionally dragged long into the night.

"Ampharos wants to see the three of us in his office to discuss things," she beckoned, turning back around as soon as she finished and expecting us to follow.

"Alright," I called after her, turning to my partner. I tapped on her shoulder to draw her attention, who dubiously looked away from a disgruntled Archen. I pointed towards the hallway, and then nodded before headed after Mawile.

Ampharos's door was already wide open as we walked down the hallway and through. The chief was studying a map of the world that was plastered to a pegboard on the wall, with various sticky notes tacked in specific places. Some of the tacks had strings wrapped around them that connected them in certain ways and formed a sort of diagram. All of it appeared to be designed as an overview for the operation, with "Project Chisel" scribbled in big red letters on an unused section of ocean towards the top of the map. Upon closer inspection, each note appeared to cite a specific incident that happened at the location on the map it was pinned to. The recorded dates of these incidents were also noted, some of the earliest ones being a few months before the present day. I stared at them solemnly; that was right around the estimated time that I had entered this world.

"Like my board?" Ampharos quipped, amused by the pause I had taken to look over it. "We've been trying to use it to find some sort of pattern to all of these unfortunate homicides."

"You've been hard at work trying to solve this, haven't you?" Leah remarked as she glanced over it, sounding impressed.

"A little too hard sometimes," Mawile told Ampharos with mild disapproval in her tone. "I found you passed out on the first floor this morning with all your stuff spread out."

"Ah... yes," he said with some form of recognition, rubbing the back of his head. "I suppose that wasn't very eloquent of me. But-" He paused in his speech so he could strike his signature pose. "Duty calls!"

He broke the pose and then looked over Leah and I. "And that is why you two are here. You are going to report how your mission went beyond the summarized details you sent Dedenne yesterday morning." He stopped to clear his throat and rub the orb on his forehead. "But before you do that, I wanted to officially incorporate you into-" He stopped and flamboyantly posed again. "Project Chisel!"

Leah's eyes widened. "Really?"

Ampharos nodded and smiled.

Leah turned to me, excitement in her expression. "This is awesome! Oh, Mincinno's team is gonna be so jealous." She was radiating enthusiasm as she bounced in place.

"Now, now, calm down," Mawile giggled. "We're actually initiating the mission for everyone, not just you two. You see, I've finally developed a few theories about what might be causing these disasters, but none of them have been solid until recently," Mawile answered. "The evidence you brought back from the scene was the catalyst to what I think could be our answer."

My eyes widened. "You think you might know what's doing this?"

"I think I might know who's doing this," Mawile corrected with a smile. "This past week I was able to inspect the composition of the stone remains of several victims on a microscopic scale. The individual results all displayed enough consistencies between them to begin developing theories as to exactly how their bodies were transformed into stone. After hours of inspection and laborious thought, I came up with this."

Mawile produced an olive-brown portfolio that was chock full of documents and drabbles. She flicked through a few of the tabs before stopping on a particular one, grasping a folded up parchment to draw it out. She unraveled it and clipped it to the top of Ampharos's board to cover his map and give us a good viewing angle. Displayed before me was detailed illustrations of different Pokemon, about a dozen of them in total, all with fine-print descriptions added to them to provide background information. By the looks of it, all of them were fire-type Pokemon, and I might've taken the time to study each one if one of them didn't catch my eye right away.

Right in the middle of the banner was the printed figure of a beast that would've been foreign to me before a couple of days ago. Volcanion's drawing didn't perfectly capture the ferociousness of seeing him face to face, but the bodily elements made it unmistakably him.

"Now this-" she began, stepping back so we could all view it from an equal distance. "-is a display of various Pokemon that have been recorded to dwell and flourish in volcanic habitats. Some on here might look familiar to you, like Vulpix and Quilava. Others like Turtonator and Camerupt aren't so common."

"Why is this important?" Leah questioned, tilting her head slightly.

Mawile grinned with heavy conviction, apparently enjoying her stint getting to play detective. "This is important because the molecular composition of the victims was profoundly similar to that of igneous rock." She picked up a ruler that was laying on Ampharos's desk and slapped the end of it onto the banner for emphasis. "Now, there are many Pokemon that can cause this kind of chemical reaction with organic matter, small or large, and some of them are shown here. But when we took carbon samples of the ashes that you gathered and compared it to the molecular data of the victims, I came to the conclusion that some kind of near-instant-cooling process must've been involved after the heat was applied."

"Wait a second," I interrupted, holding up my hands. "You think the culprit is cooking the victims alive and then instantly cooling them to form stone?"

Mawile fiddled with the ruler in her hands. "Something along those lines. Unfortunately, the hard part is figuring out what kind of Pokemon is doing it. I was hoping this chart would help, but the only Pokemon who would fit the scientific theory to pull this off would be the legendary Steam Pokemon, who supposedly hasn't been seen for decades." She gazed at Leah and I interrogatively. "Would you two have any idea on a lead based off of this information? You witnessed Latios's fall, after all."

I blinked.

 _There's no way... is it really Volcanion behind all of this? Were we actually face to face with the culprit?_

Even though I'd already begun to piece together the conjecture in my head, my heart still skipped a beat when Mawile pressed her ruler at the Pokemon she was referring to. The tip of the ruler sat right on the crude drawing of Volcanion's head, right on his nose. She had precisely confirmed what I was thinking, and the knowing glance I shared with Leah a moment later proved that we were both on the same page.

"Yes. I think we've got a pretty good idea," I spoke up, unsure whether to be enthralled at the revelation or tremble in fear at what was to come.


	29. Fogbound

Chapter 29 - Fogbound

The meeting place wasn't exactly what the hooded figure had in mind. But considering how closely located this was to civilization, it would have to do.

His contact was already waiting for him, impatiently pacing around the clearing. The brittle leaves that had been cooked in the drought snapped under the sound of manifested intolerance, dissolving what would be a night where the five senses had vanished. The mountain forest would sing with life during the daytime, but the hooded figure knew that the world of darkness was black to its white. It was certainly ideal to meet here when the inhabitants of the nearby dungeons were dormant. But regardless, it still seriously irked him that his contact refused to at least meet him halfway. That left him to walk miles across this part of the continent himself, which he had already begun to grow tired of doing so often beforehand.

"Just gotta deal with this a little longer," he whispered to himself as he pushed aside a low branch and finally entered the clearing. "It'll all be over soon."

"Talking to yourself again?" his contact spoke loudly from across the sloped clearing, halting in place and turning to face him.

The hooded figure scoffed at the figure in the shadows, stomping forward to get a better look at his accomplice. "Just hush and give me the report," he growled. "I didn't hike all this way just to toss you crumbs."

An eyebrow was raised at his aggression. "Well would you like me to hush, or would you like me to give you a report?"

"Cut it out, dammit. I'm in a bad mood."

"You _should_ be in a bad mood, you unqualified wretch!" his accomplice hissed, the voice suddenly wielding a pitch of violence. "You've got no place being snappy with me. The entire reason I'm out here in the middle of the night is to correct your blatant failure at subduing our target, so you're going to comply with me whether you like it or not. It is only by the grace of our lord that you are still alive to realize your incompetence."

"What about the other one? The second incarnate?" the hooded figure asked, paying little mind to the insults being thrown his way.

"Our lord has given no orders regarding the other one. We only focus on our target for now, and disconnecting him from his roots in the Tree of Life."

A folded-up piece of parchment was produced and handed to the hooded figure. His contact adopted a menacing grin as it was slowly unfolded, deciding to provide some background.

"I tried the same method you did, and sure enough, he didn't budge. Ah, and I was so close too... I was right there! But he's too smart to let his guard down, and brute force isn't an option with Project Marble still developing. Perhaps if you had realized this sooner and diverted your plans as I have decided to, then we wouldn't be here."

"What exactly am I looking at?" the hooded figure questioned. He had unfolded the parchment and was now trying to make sense of what was on it. His eyes widened. "Are you serious? Are you certain this is the right-?"

The contact continued to grin, snatching the blueprints from the hooded figure's fingertips and disappearing into the darkness with it. The answer would come in a faded whisper that receded from the artificial golden lights glimmering just above the treeline.

"What you just saw detailed exactly how the bastard will be put through hell on earth. Do not dare question our lord's methods."

"But what-"

"In the meantime, you had damn well be ready to do your part. Trust the process."

That was the last the hooded figure heard before he was left alone in the woods.

* * *

Lively Town changed while we were gone.

It was too subtle for me to notice for a few days, but finally gave me pause when I picked up on the development of the outskirts. Cobblestone and artificial color-ways introduced themselves to the sandy coast on either flank of the town. An exponentially sloped landscape on the other wasn't slowing it's gradual rise either, and the mark of civilization was easily winning the turf war. I finally saw it today when staring down at the town from the hill by Gentle Slope Cave, noticing that Lively Town's radius had been extended the tiniest bit. I had only spent a couple of weeks away, but the lively activity of the Pokemon here had not reclined.

It had been six days since the big discussion in the chief's office. Despite the weight of what was revealed, no course of action was to be taken right away as Mawile and Ampharos decided they would bide their time and formulate a plan. In the meantime, that left Leah and I to our own devices. Life and responsibility cared little for two weeks spent frolicking across the ocean, and it was Water Continent business as usual for my partner and I.

I was feeling great about that, and so was my vine. It had finally grown back and didn't ache whenever I put it to use, so I was hoping that the daily routine would follow in its image and become natural once more. The transition wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, credited that doing daily jobs in dungeons around the area was second nature at this point. Little missions like this had made up a large majority of my life after all, even when considering all of the breaks in routine due to the unfortunate constitution of my presence in this world. Of course worries about the whole stone dilemma weren't quick to leave my head, but they could perhaps be waned by a stagnant agenda of tasks and exertions with a lot less at stake.

What a naive thought, conjured from my desire for comfort in an uncomfortable world. Putting an end to the normal routine was a revelation that brought itself to light on this day not even a week after arriving back. I should've figured as much; we were dealing with a national crisis after all.

Leah and I shuffled into the headquarters, exhausted from a day hiking the northern foothills and getting caught up in some trouble that really shouldn't have happened to us in the first place. We planned to make the best of the half hour or so we had until dinner by settling into our room and enjoying each others' company. Anything else but relaxing my limbs after a long day of scaling feral obstacles was at the back of my mind at the moment.

"Phew!" Leah exclaimed as the colder breeze of the conditioned indoors hit us on the way in. "Who'd have thought that a rescue mission would turn out to be a trapped monster house? What a summer this has been, right?"

"No kidding," I sighed with a concurring nod. "I guess today was just one big waste of time, huh?"

"Nuh-uh. I learned psyshock in that fight, so it wasn't a total waste," she replied with an optimistic smile. "Oh, and we got rescue points from the Connection Orb too, _and_ we caught the scamming prick who tried to trap us. So misadventures aside, I'd call it a successful day."

I opened my mouth to challenge the relevance of the connection orb points, but stopped myself when I noticed Ampharos was downstairs with Mawile. Crossing through the central room on the first story had brought us near them, and they were standing in the open as the chief fervently explained something consequential to the attentive scientist. He appeared to be distressed at first glance, and sounded all the same when we diverted to approached him out of curiosity. I had never seen the chief this overtly frustrated before, and honestly never thought I would.

"What's going on?" a concerned Leah asked him as we approached.

The chief turned from Mawile and acknowledged us in a manner that was void of the cheer that usually sprinkled itself in his voice. "Oh, good afternoon Team Prism. I was just getting ready to address everyone, so if you'll wait just one moment." He turned in the direction of Swirlix, who was over by the mess hall trying to pull a fork out of her cotton-like body. "My good Swirlix, would you kindly ring the bell and summon the rest of the Society?"

Swirlix was so busy untangling the piece of silverware out of her fluff that, to the chief's dismay, she didn't hear his calling.

"I got this," I said before any form of his impatience could be vocalized. I rolled my eyes at the sight of her struggling form and cupped my hands over my mouth to call out to the crazy chef. "Hey Swirlix! I heard if you ring the dinner bell _really_ hard, you'll get free cake!"

Leah raised her eyebrow at me for a moment, unconvinced that such a half-baked claim would yield any results. But Swirlix proved her wrong when, with bulging eyes, she tackled the dinner bell and nearly knocked it off the wall. A loud metallic ring, more of an unmelodious clang rather than the usual stabilized dissonance, sounded through the building with a clear message. The likes of Buizel and Bunnelby emerged from their rooms, curious to find out what the source of the summoning entailed at such an unusually early time for dinner to be ready. Following them, with some also shuffling down the second-story stairs, were the rest of the members, with Comfey and Brionne trailing everyone. In a matter of thirty seconds, everyone was downstairs in the lobby and forming a group to stand before Ampharos. Me, Leah, and the comically confused Swirlix hopped in and completed the group while Ampharos scanned over the entirety of us.

Again, something was clearly off. He usually revealed himself as slightly unorganized and incidental during morning announcements, with Mawile at his side to occasionally nudge him forward with the daily routine and keep him on track. But there wasn't a shadow of indolence in his eyes at this moment, and for once he wore a purposeful frown. Satisfied with the gathering, he took a deep breath and cleared his throat to speak.

"Salutations everyone," the chief began, his voice stern but thankfully neutral enough to not be unsettling. "I know we don't normally have meetings like this, especially towards the end of the day, but this is very important. You're all probably wondering why I have called you down here."

"Wait, we're not having an early dinner?" Buizel said, not hiding his disgruntlement. Several concurring voices sounded behind him, and an air of discontentment diffused through the room as disappointing realization set in for most of them. Swirlix, meanwhile, was still as oblivious as ever.

"Where's the cake? Where is it?" she demanded of everyone and also no one in particular, glancing all around as if her imaginary dream cuisine was lurking just out of detectable range.

"There's no cake, Swirlix," Mawile broke to her in a flat tone.

"Hey!" Comfey yelled at the chef, cartwheeling twice to personify her frustration. "Why'd you ring the bell if there's no dinner? Huh?"

"Well I thought I was gonna get free cake! Blame the snake!" Swirlix growled as reality finally set in, projecting me a hellish glare that might've indicated a threat to the integrity of my next meal.

Taking advantage of their discord, I innocently stared at the ceiling and shrugged, acting as if uninvolved.

"Attention, my friends, please!" Ampharos's authoritative voice called out over the pointless banter. "I have an important announcement!"

All of us forgot about our insignificant exchanges and stood at attention before the chief. Mawile still stood near his side, but back a few paces to concede him the floor and to hear him better.

"Thank you," the electric-type continued. "Now... I have talked to the Water Continent guard and presented them with the information that we have gathered for finally executing Project Chisel. We have evidence for several suspects, but none stand out more prominently than the legendary Pokemon Volcanion. You all pretty much know this already. The only thing we lack in pursuing him as the perpetrator of these vicious stone disasters is a motive, which could be achieved through face-to-face confrontation."

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go get him!" Buizel blurted out.

"Yes, I'm getting to that now," Ampharos continued, indifferent to the disruption. "Unfortunately, the nationally organized forces on this continent refuse to support the evidence we have gathered and execute an investigation of their own. If we are to pursue this lead any further, we'll be alone and working at the expense of our own assets." The chief looked at Buizel and nodded once before finishing. "But since when has that stopped us? I say this lead cannot be ignored, and at the present moment we are the only Pokemon willing and able."

"Woah, wait..." Vulpix spoke up before anyone could second the motion. "Are you saying we're actually gonna go after a legendary Pokemon? I-I don't mean to sound diminutive, but you all realize we're a rescue and research team, not a military force, right? Doesn't this course of action sound a little insane?" The tone of her voice seemed to speak for her. A couple others in the crowd seemed to agree with her logic, while the rest remained outwardly neutral.

Ampharos chuckled in response, finally showing a bit of his usual self. "Of course it's insane. Why, it would be insane for all of you _not_ to think this plan is insane! But as you know, we typically operate on our own terms whenever we band together for a mission like this. And therefore, if this is what must be done to find the culprit, then we will handle it like we always have. With vigor and also with spirit!"

Several voices cheered, Leah's included, while the remaining murmured some form of acquiescence. Team spirit was one thing, but I knew this was stretching it a bit, so it made sense to me why there might be divided opinions on such an extreme proposal. I remained silent as I mulled over the idea.

"Vigor and spirit are the same thing..." I heard Vulpix mutter under her breath, unenthusiastic about how this was turning out.

"I agree with the chief!" Mincinno excitedly exclaimed, energetically pumping his fist into his open palm. "Now, where can we find this crook?"

"Calm yourself Mincinno," Mawile chastised, holding a hand up. "We still haven't concluded that this Volcanion fellow is our definite enemy. But to answer your question..." She produced a map from the back pocket on her bag, and unrolled it for everyone to see. "I snagged this from one of those lazy goons while we were trying to show them the evidence about Volcanion. They've apparently kept tabs on his home location for quite some time."

Ampharos opened his mouth slowly and gawked at her, unaware that she had done such a thing until now.

"Mawile..." he sighed. "It's going to be hell to pay if someone finds out you stole from the military."

"Oh, to hell right back at them," the steel-type researcher scoffed. "They're just a bunch of uninformed political eggheads who weren't planning on using this information anyway. They won't find out."

Ampharos looked a bit stupefied by the absence of the calculated logical rebuttal he expected to hear. He was never much of a political whiz himself, in large part to distance himself from such feverish emotions. But in the end he did not challenge his most trusted companion for her unconventional means of gathering intelligence. "Well, I suppose that's in the past," he conceded, shaking his head. "Lead the way."

Mawile gave him a cheeky smile and gratefully nudged him as she stepped forward with the printed map. She raised it up into the air for everyone to inspect, holding it open with her off hand. It was really just a picture of the southeastern shoreline and a dotted line drawn through the bridging ocean and into the mainland of another continent. Judging by the scale of the longitudinal lines, it was at least as far as the distance from here to the Air Continent had been. There were numbers and diagrams drawn here and there that detailed ocean currents and sections of land along the way, but overall it was a simple depiction of exactly where we needed to go.

"We can sail across the ocean to the Grass Continent, as shown here," Mawile stated, pointing to the line. "The best path would be circling around the continent to the east coast and disembarking here near Sky Summit. From there we can head southeast until we reach our destination, which should be right here."

She pointed to an odd-looking structure on the map, indicating it was where Volcanion lived. It was drawn as a body of water, definitely a lake, but it appeared to be sitting inside some kind of natural bowl of rock. The image intrigued me, as I never would've imaged such a natural structure could exist while also holding a large body of water. It seemed like the perfect place for a legendary creature to spent its downtime.

Archen, a few paces in front of me, turned back and whispered, "Looks like we're going on another boat ride."

"Your favorite," I mumbled, nudging my partner who was busy listening to Mawile's presentation.

"Huh? Oh, ha-ha guys. Very funny," Leah replied, rolling her eyes and failing to hide a grin. She didn't miss a beat, however, and prepared her own comeback. "You know... maybe we could fly there instead. What do you think Smugleaf?"

She found it incredibly difficult to suppress her giggling and not disrupt the meeting when I shot her my best unamused glare.

While Mawile was going over the course of action again, I glanced around to observe what everyone visibly thought of this idea. Like before, some such as Buizel and Helioptile were visibly excited, while others such as Vulpix and Brionne appeared more than a little nervous. But nobody was in direct opposition, so the matter was settled.

"Well, I suppose that saves us the trouble of tracking him down then," Ampharos said while his assistant stuck the map back into her bag. "In that case, we shall leave..." Now sounding as confident as ever, he struck his signature pose. "...Tomorrow at lunchtime! You are all dismissed!"

"I'll go make dinner! Be ready in half an hour!" Swirlix chimed back at us, already bouncing over into the mess hall to whip up whatever edible art she had planned.

The rest of the Society filtered back to whatever it was they were doing, with Leah and I heading into our room as planned. Even with dinner approaching, the sun was still well into the sky and radiating through the grated windows, and I felt the warmth of the rays coat me as I walked toward the hallway with a heavy mind. The solstice should be any day now. What a summer this had been indeed.

I continued to mull over the upcoming operation, caught somewhere between yearning for answers and feeling conflicted about what we were going to be walking into. Walking back to the room was just as trivial as executing a mission from the connection orb by now, and my subconscious carried my feet while my thoughts remained elsewhere. I allowed the exploration bag to slide onto the floor where it usually found itself following tiresome missions, and then followed suit by unwinding onto my bed and curling my tail up to rest under my nose.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Leah, who busied herself by lighting the nearest lantern and then padding over to grab something out of the treasure bag. At first glance it appeared to be a research notebook, but I knew the unruly Fennekin well enough to know that she wasn't keenly interested in literature. She popped a twig into her mouth, shaking her little twig bag and exhibiting a light scowl that indicated she would need to replenish soon. Then she picked up her flower pen and began to write.

"What'cha up to?" I bothered, barely lifting my head to get a better look at her activity.

"Hm? ...Oh this?" she hummed, surprised for a dense moment that she was being spoken to. "This is my diary. I picked it up from the store on the way back while you were buying food."

I cocked my head to the side to rest my temple on the edge of the soft padding. "What would you need that for?"

"To write about my life, of course," she instantly answered with an amused smile. "Y'know, so if I die or something terrible happens, then my feelings and experiences will be recorded here."

"Oh. In that case, might I read it?" I asked her, wanting to test how she would respond.

"Wh-what? Of course not!" she replied nervously, inching the book closer to herself and huffing. "It's supposed to be secret and contain stuff like personal feelings, you know?" When she saw my wordless muddled expression, she rolled her eyes and continued. "Well of course you wouldn't know. It's really a girl thing anyway. I remember Deerling had one too that she wrote in every day."

"Leah, how would you have known Deerling had a diary if it's supposed to be 'secret'?"

Leah inhaled at my question, staring at the ceiling, and stayed that way for a moment before responding. "...I was bored one day, so I took a peek."

My quandary quickly turned into amusement, and I chuckled and shook my head. "Of course you did."

"Well, you know me. I get bored easily," she said, rolling her eyes and giggling. "That's why it's so awesome being best friends with a human from another world. It's pretty hard to get bored with that!"

"Well, for better or for worse," I shrugged.

"Oh, don't be such a downer," she replied with an uplifting smile. "Sometimes you just gotta set your sights on the sunny side of life, and enjoy the journey rather than the destination."

I thought about it for a second and nodded. "I guess you're right."

It was so hard to feel bad about involving her with my ethereal issues when she maintained such a sanguine attitude about all of it. Her appreciation for the atelic moments in life was second to none, and it was starting to rub off on me a bit. I had known from the beginning that it would be the Pokemon that understood my human situation and were willing to help that I could ultimately trust. But true friendship, in my position, should have been entirely unforeseen and was truly invaluable. I really couldn't have gotten this far without her either.

The conversation ended there as Leah busied herself nibbling on her wooden delicacy and jotting down her heart's desires. The sound of pen against paper quickly became a rhythmic ambience to my relaxation, and I resolved to lay in peace with closed eyes so I could rest my head until dinner. These static moments of peace weren't often an abundant luxury at the Expedition Society thus far, so I made sure to take advantage of the little breaks I could get here and there.

It was the moment the sound of a flipping page broke the rhythm that I was reminded of something I had been saving for free time such as this. I sat up and extended a vine over to the desk by the wall, coiling it around a particular book sitting on the edge of the wood. The thick piece of literature weighed the tendril down a bit at first, but a minor readjustment was all it took to comfortably reel it toward me. I lied back down on my stomach and allowed the book I had borrowed from Jirachi to fall open to a random page. I could still remember how he had claimed to have some idea about what was going on with my reversed stat changes in battle, and that this book would supposedly help me understand it. But I just had to find the right page or section, leading to me eventually abandoning the uniform reading I had been doing beforehand. After a few minutes of skimming and searching, I finally located the section dedicated to Snivy at the top of page four-hundred and twenty.

A tiny sketching of a Snivy was illustrated on the page, bearing something similar to my own image. Under it was some needless information about the species' natural habitat and other ramblings that I skimmed over. Then, finally, I found what appeared to be my answer.

The paragraph in question read: _"Snivy has one regular birth ability in Overgrow, which powers up grass-type attacks when the user has sustained heavy damage. On rare occasions, however, some Snivy have been recorded to instead possess Contrary, which has been verified as its hidden ability. Contrary reverses the effects of all status changes in battle, including those inflicted on oneself."_

Intrigued, I shifted into a sitting position. I remembered hearing about hidden abilities from school; they result from genetic anomalies that could occasionally occur when a Pokemon is born, similar to how 'shiny' body discolorations came to be. It was all tied with the initial genetic values a Pokemon would be born with.

But finally... The description of this ability here was exactly what I had been searching for. I had experienced the effect stated in the text firsthand on multiple occasions with a wide range of variables involved, but now I could actually understand what these weird occurrences meant. The one part that particularly caught my attention was the part about inflicting status conditions on myself with the intention of reversing them. Too focused on being the receiving end of attacks that had this 'contrary' effect, I had never once considered actually manipulating it myself. Could I potentially use this to my advantage?

I reflected over what I had learned so far about Pokemon and their magical techniques and abilities. I felt like there was something that had potential to be incredibly useful about this hidden ability that I must have come across before, but I couldn't quite recall what it was. It would've been nice if the author could've specified exactly what kind of move combinations would work so that I wouldn't have to brainstorm through it myself.

All of my attacks to this point had been relatively straightforward in nature. Efficiently dealing damage was really the only goal, and it hadn't failed me yet even if I wasn't the hardest-hitting Pokemon out there. But with an escalating crisis swirling out of feasible control around me, perhaps it was time for a different approach. Someone like Leah didn't have to worry about such things with her level of dexterity and ranged prowess, but where did my physical attributes land me? I was fast and agile, and my slim frame made evading attacks easier. I could take a devastating hit or two and stay on my feet, depending on the circumstances. My lone grass-typing lent itself to defense and longevity, and my hidden ability proposed a strategic advantage that few enemies might be prepared for. If I could just fill the void on offense... I might be able to have some fun with this.

I spent the next few minutes trying to hypothesize what this ability could possibly be used for from an attacking standpoint. I was excited by the concept of actively breaking and potentially abusing status changes, but I just couldn't quite grasp how I would do it. Eventually my pondering state would become secondary to the jarring of the dinner bell, and lust for nutrition would take its place with little resistance. We were destined to have a hearty feast tonight after all, for this upcoming week would be a time of reckoning.

* * *

One night's sleep passed, and it was time to move.

So this was really it then. We were really going to head to Volcanion's domain and put his motives to the test, and only days after he nearly killed us. Those few moments standing in his presence were so surreal that recalling the finer details of the scene was now all but impossible. All I could remember was the excruciating heat of the flames and the adrenaline, followed by the icy chill of impending doom. Did Ampharos and Mawile seriously think we could tackle that kind of force head on with the Pokemon we have? Considering the words of parting that the armored beast had left us with, I wasn't entirely convinced. Chances were there would be no Celebi appearance to save us this time around. The law of averages had been pushed to the limit enough.

Lapras guffawed at Ampharos when he was requested that the entirety of our group be taken to the Grass Continent. The rest of the Lapras liners were busy, and there was no way she alone could carry all of us even with Jirachi, Dedenne, and Brionne staying behind. Forced to seek other methods of travel, we ended up leaving an hour later than projected due to the time it took to secure us a ride on a non-organic vessel.

The ship's design appeared old-fashioned compared to most of the ships in the harbor, and it was hard to miss the rust creeping up the sides of the metal plates and bolts holding it together. A few Society members approached the boarding dock with a range of perplexed reactions as its tiny crew tugged on loose ropes and hauled up their commercial cargo, scouting out where we'd be staying for a couple days. We were really just tagging along to the village they were headed to, which was the same waypoint under the mountain that Mawile had pointed to the evening before, so it was unlikely we would be accommodated like anything close to royalty. Traveling overseas as one large group wasn't common for the Expedition Society, and therefore times where an alternative from the Lapras liner was needed were few and far between.

The captain, an Ambipom with a marble in place of his left eye, insisted his ship could skip across the waters as reliably as he could observe the horizon. That gave us a good fifty-percent chance of survival.

The ship had just enough spare rooms to hold all of us. They were only about a fourth the size of our room at the Society, with second-rate bedding and a single candle for lighting. But getting into uncomfortable situations was just part of exploring, and there was little alternative options for travel unless Jirachi could magically manufacture a bunch of his magical flying machines. Considering my first impression with taking to the skies, I much rather preferred floating along the unfathomable depths of the water.

What ended up really getting to most of us was how boring and uneventful the voyage was; the dreadful calm before a hazy firestorm. There was no doubt plenty to do, as the crew was constantly working and in need of assistance with one small task or another. But it was the mood, rather, that left an eternal itch on our spirits. This was nothing like riding on Lapras's back, since that was at least during a time when we were headed to a new exciting land. Right now, there was just nothing to be excited about. Everyone was somber and locked in, whether they were looking forward to the climax of this journey or they had to force themselves on board.

Leah suffered the worst from the downtime, pacing back and forth before Lively Town had even disappeared over the horizon. Once on the open water, we entertained ourselves with various verbal games that we came up with on a whim, and eventually began mingling with the other Pokemon on the ship for the sake of staying sane through diversity of activity. I talked a lot with Mincinno and Vulpix, who both expressed opposite opinions on the mission but were still equally set on getting it done.

Three daily cycles of this passed. It felt like one drawn-out conscious stretch of tapping feet and breathing salt. The quartermaster called out at one point that land was spotted at the end of this period of time, and everyone rushed to the stern to get a view. But we had been so caught up in our agitation that nobody remembered that we still had a lengthy ways to go along the coast before we actually made landfall, which the quartermaster had to soberly remind us of. Two more days of sailing along with the coast barely in sight would pass before it was finally time to disembark on the west side of the continent.

Towering before us a fair distance into the mainland was a mountain that parted cumulus clouds thousands of meters up into the late morning sky. It easily rivaled Revelation Mountain in magnitude, and produced ethereal beauty that was unique compared to anything I had seen on the Water Continent. We had seen it from the ship as it completed the last stretch towards landing, but viewing it grow larger and larger as we marched forward was simply incredible.

It didn't take long for the crystalline beaches to transform into a grassy landscape coated in pink. A mysterious species of flower emitting an absolutely gratifying fragrance grew together by the thousands. For the entire two hour walk past our waypoint, the majority of our attention would be claimed by these foreign sights of beauty. Not a bad first impression of the Grass Continent for me.

"I assume our waypoint is over yonder?" Ampharos inquired of Mawile as the lot of us walked a path that took us further into the mainland at an angle.

"Yeah, right at the foot of Sky Summit," Mawile supplied, holding the map up at an optimal angle for everyone to see. "It's called Shaymin Village. I've been there once when studying the unique species of Pokemon who live there. It's not very large or highly developed, but it's a great place to relax and enjoy life. We won't be stopping there today since we'll probably be able to make it all the way to our destination by nightfall though."

"What exactly is our destination?" Vulpix asked, speeding up a bit to get a better look. She pointed at the unnaturally-shaped water fountain drawn on the map that had been mentioned before, and looked at the researcher. "It's that strange-looking hill there, right?"

"It's called Fogbound Lake," Mawile corrected. "That's the place."

"Did you say lake?" Helioptile puzzled. "That's no lake, or at least not on the map it isn't. That looks more like an upside down mountain, eh?"

Mawile inhaled through her nose and began one of her patented lectures. "That's because Fogbound Lake is on top of the structure, as you can see drawn here. It used to be hidden by a massive cloud of fog to keep intruders away from the treasure that used to be kept at the top, but we won't have to worry about that. The water is supposedly able to circulate through a series of rising steam and hydrothermal geysers, and by using the relation between pressure and volume, we are able to..."

Heloptile, having the attention span of a single-celled organism, had already tuned out. I did the same, her voice becoming background noise as my thoughts transitioned elsewhere in the midst of my boredom.

At first I grappled with the prospect of facing a legendary Pokemon, as I was sure everyone else was to some degree. It was pretty obvious that this trip likely wasn't going to end with a friendly chat, whether we liked it or not. I wasn't even sure if we had a plan at all beyond pulling up at the doorstep of this thing's foreign lake home and distributing accusations. This was the price of finding the truth, apparently.

Eventually I forced myself to focus on other things to keep myself positive, like the fresh air gliding past my lithe form and the scenic candy that lined the path cutting through the frontier. Bunnelby mentioned to me that the value of real estate on this continent was notably higher than that of any other, and I found no reason to disagree from the sample size I had gathered so far. Even the Pokemon we passed by every now and then seemed to act different in an uplifting way. None of us would have ever thought this place might harbor a volcanic murderer if we weren't specifically here to confront one.

Traveling as one giant group in silence got old before too long. Without the rocking motion and dull surroundings of the ship to enact a psychological influence, moods became stable once more and even those who were nervous about this trip became a bit more animated. We all made small, casual conversation that was thankfully absent of any foreboding that might be felt in the back of our minds about where we were going.

At one point I inquired with Mincinno for his opinion on my hidden ability, hoping he or someone else here who had actually been born a Pokemon might be able to provide some useful feedback. I explained how it worked in detail and witnessed his surprised reaction.

"Your ability does what now?" he repeated.

"Yep!" Leah, who was strolling next to us and listening to my explanation, chimed in for me. "It's saved us a few times, even though neither of us really have understood it."

Mincinno rubbed his chin, impressed. "That's one interesting ability Sage. You might be able to put it to use, depending on what kind of battler you are."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, like-" he began, pausing to think about it. "Like some Pokemon use set up moves to boost their stats before attacking, but you obviously can't do that since you'd just be screwing yourself. So you probably want to find a move that would normally lower your stats instead, and then go from there. You following me?"

"I think so, but-"

"But the problem is that as a Snivy your movepool is pretty shit, for lack of a better term," Mincinno interrupted. "It's something you and I share in common, unfortunately."

I couldn't exactly disagree. Throughout all of the dungeoneering I had been through with Leah by my side, our movepools had seemed to turn in opposite directions. The amount of offensive type coverage I had on command was virtually nonexistent, whereas my partner had three different attack typings at her disposal ever since she had found a TM for grass knot a little while back. She'd always reassure me by saying that I'd pick up a coverage move eventually, citing it was a part of natural selection or something along those blurred lines. But I could care less about biological theories; technically this body wasn't even mine after all. I just wanted to not be so handicapped against fire and flying types.

I thought about it for the next hour or so of walking. Again I felt like there was some way that this ability could help me drastically in battle, almost as if it was specifically meant to be given to me by whatever turned me into a Pokemon. But it was just out of grasp! I began to think back through the memories that I did have access to, perhaps riding on the chance that something might be there. Disregarding any necessary game-changing strategy, my battle style had always been so simple: utilize agility and size to become incredibly difficult to hit, while using my vines and occasionally my tail to cut into my opponents' defenses. It was archaic, but it worked.

I thought back to the times I had spent in school trying to learn what I could about this world, and the various trips into the dungeons around Serene Village with all of my friends. From the time Espurr and I had rescued that Larvitar, to the time Leah and I tried to tackle Revelation Mountain, to the time Ampharos had arrived and we had to return his connection orb-

"Leaf storm!" I blurted. I slapped my face with my hand. "Oh, how could I have forgotten?"

"Huh?" my partner hummed beside me, puzzled by the sudden exclamation.

"Of course!" I continued. All of it made so much sense now. "One use of it comes at the cost of a substantial reduction in special attack," I filled her in. "We learned about this in school, remember?"

"No...?" Leah responded slowly before shrugging. "You know I usually slept through Watchog's lessons." She paused and looked at me though, and I could see the gears in her head start to turn. "Wait, you mentioned leaf storm?"

"Remember when Kecleon tried to sell me that TM when we were showing him the connection orb?" I asked.

Leah thought about it for another second before her ruby eyes flashed with recognition. "Oh yeah!" She giggled and put on a smirk to paraphrase the exchange with the shopkeeper. "I specifically remember you trashing the idea of learning such an 'impractical' move."

"Yeah, I guess I did say that..." I reminisced. "That's unfortunate."

"So with this contradictory ability - or whatever it's called - you could learn leaf storm and you'll hit harder every time you use it?" Leah summed up. "Is that what you're thinking?"

"That's exactly what I'm thinking."

We shared a look of anticipatory glee. I was indeed going to have fun with this.

"See! Natural selection! No wonder Snivy can get such an ability. Too bad you turned that TM down," she said. "Imagine if you'd have known that all along. We could definitely use it right about now."

"Hindsight is twenty-twenty," I answered, shrugging even though I was rather disappointed about it on the inside. "But it doesn't matter much right now anyway."

"I guess," she shrugged back. "It's not like we had the money anyway. Pops would've killed me if we spent all our Poké on one item."

"Yeah, that's true," I chuckled. "...and Leah? Natural selection is just a myth."

"Natural selection is definitely _not_ a-" Leah paused mid-retort to sniff the air and analyze our surroundings. "...Hey, look around."

Glancing around, I took immediate concern to the abrupt changes in environment. What was once an open trail through fields and foothills had flattened out as the woodlands around our group had exponentially thickened. Underneath the bulky spruce leaves was a fine layer of water vapor that began to coat our surroundings and hinder visibility the further we went. Even the sunlight above us was scattered by the ambient fog that barricaded our view of the sky. Everything had changed from regular passing woods to become shrouded in fog just like that, without any warning. It was just as Mawile described; we had entered a cloud of fog constant in shape and volume.

"Hey!" Mawile's voice called from a few paces ahead. "Everyone gather!"

The entire group stopped before Ampharos, whom Mawile was whispering something to while making the occasional gesture at the map. He nodded once when she was done, and turned to face all of us.

"This, my comrades, is the famous Foggy Forest," the chief stated, folding one arm behind his back and making a sweeping gesture with the other. "Supposedly it is home to one of the world's greatest treasures. But as you all know, we are not here for treasure today. We are here for justice!"

Several cheers from our group erupted, disregarding the fact that Ampharos sounded a little goofy trying to hype everyone up.

"Indeed so!" he continued. "We will not waste any more time. The secret of Fogbound Lake has been brought to light before, but the fog still seems to be ever-present. Thankfully, Mawile has a plan."

The steel-type stepped up and commanded everyone's attention. "Alright guys! There's only one method my research has taught me of that can lift this particular fog, and it's not a feasible option for us at the moment. That means we're gonna have to find the lake the old-fashioned way."

"Hold up," Bunnelby interrupted. "How are we supposed to all scale a massive inverted mountain, even if we can find it in all of this fog?"

"There's supposedly a cave system running through the structure known as Steam Cave," Ampharos filled in. "It leads straight to the top where our Volcanion might be waiting. That is our destination."

"I propose we split up into three groups," Mawile said. "Bunnelby, Buizel, Archen, and Comfey will cut through the Forest Path and see where it takes you. Team Prism and Team Carbon will take the trail straight into the heart of Foggy Forest. And then Ampharos and I will cover the area around this clearing and see if anything interesting is here. You all remember what you're looking for, yes?"

Everyone nodded their affirmation.

Ampharos stuck his arm towards the depths of the fog and marched forward. "In that case, initiate Project Chisel!"

* * *

The mystery dungeon that materialized within the forest might not have been so tricky to handle if it didn't compact the fog so densely within its borders. Coordinated numbers was usually an advantage in these situations, but we got so caught up trying to stay close that wild Pokemon got the jump on us more times than any of us would like to admit. Visibility was so low that every few minutes someone would walk into a tree or impulsively attack a bush that they conceived to be an enemy. It was only funny the first couple of times; after that we all began to get paranoid. Helioptile's flash only served as a waste of energy, since the bright light would only make it a few feet from his body before it would be dissolved by the surrounding plague of colloids.

Regardless of any obtrusive sensory disarmament, this lethargic pace would not diminish the sum distance covered. Enough of the forest passed by where we finally began to see less trees and more standing water, sometimes even water blocking our path.

At one point Leah was too busy staring off to the side to notice the pool of water right in front of her, and she stumbled in headfirst. I noticed this playing out the moment before and lunged to snag onto her with a vine, but my efforts only served to pull myself in with her. The pool was only a few inches deep and the water felt moderate, but the awkwardness of the situation was overwhelming as we fell on top of each other and desperately tried to hop out of the water. Vulpix and Helioptile got a good laugh in at the sight, while Mincinno simply rolled his eyes and continued forward only to fall into a similar pool a minute later and emerge resembling a cranky Furfrou on two legs.

Eventually the differences in environment would be catalyzed by the end of the dungeon. The path converged into what could only be the true heart of the forest, where the trees opened up into a massive clearing and nature commanded the environment in solitude. Water pooled into ponds all around, the streams' sources originating somewhere in the heavens above that was well-hidden by the fog. It would've been a downright mystifying sight for anyone who didn't know what was supposed to be here, but based on what Mawile's map had shown, it didn't take us long to catch on.

"Check that out..." Leah whispered, amazed by the sight.

Even with the still-prominent fog affecting our sight and the gravity of our visit affecting our morale, we all still paused to take in this serene location. The area was covered in a silence governed by the deafening fog, only being preceded by the soft sound of gravity's influence on the running water. The grass here was a shade darker than what had been seen upon arriving at the shore, with overgrowth likely prevented by the lack of sunlight. It was all so pristine, like being in a cave where the walls were made of shining mist instead of dull granite.

"The lake must be somewhere directly above us," Mincinno stared up into the fog above and declared. "That's the only explanation for this water falling out of the sky."

"Uh, guys...?" Vulpix sharply whispered with bated breath.

I curiously turned to look at her, and saw her gaze transfixed on something gray towards the left-center of the clearing that was sticking out of one of the ponds. The gray hue of the lackluster lighting made it difficult to pick out fine details from anywhere beyond a few feet away, but with squinted eyes I could easily assume it was exactly as I feared. This wasn't my first time seeing this happen in person, but this didn't make it any less gut-wrenching.

A Pokemon had been turned to stone here.

Leah's proficient hearing wasn't enough to heed the nervous Vulpix at first, and she continued staring up in a trance at the endless ceiling of mist. "How do we find that cave though?" she asked nobody in particular. "It's gotta be somewhere around-"

A vine on her shoulder stopped her mid-sentence. She turned to look at me with a blissfully ignorant expression, and I hesitantly pointed at the life-sized rock sitting up at a slight angle in the pool of water and observed as she turned her head to look. Although the Fennekin demonstrated no immediate verbal reaction, I could imagine her heart dropping to her feet the same way mine did upon seeing the chiseled remains of another victim of this madness.

Barring any additional length added by the extension of its twin tails, the deceased Pokemon wasn't any larger than anyone in our group of five. Its lower-body was fully submerged in the shallow pool, but the fine carvings of two tightly shut round eyes and a cornrow-style ovular skull stuck out as a testament to the barrier between blood-rushing life and inorganic rock. The upper halves of the two thin tails that somewhat resembled my own in design were visible above the pond's surface as well, both cemented for eternity in an awkwardly bent position. Identifying the species was a far cry; none of us had ever seen this kind of Pokemon before. I momentarily wondered if the fairy-looking creature was a legendary Pokemon, but the speculation was quickly drowned out by the rest of the traffic racing through my mind.

Our two exploration teams instinctively assembled into a pentagon of frightened Pokemon, each of us staring off into the fog at different angles but with equally encompassing paranoia. There was no clues that screamed this was a recent act of violence, but there weren't necessarily any clues that said it wasn't recent either. Either way, it didn't really matter; we were clearly not treading on passive land.

"Sweet mother of Arceus..." Mincinno whispered, breaking the circle once it seemed like we weren't in any imminent danger to take a few steps closer and get a better look. He did a quick inspection by walking to the edge of the pond and staring at the statue silently, before turning back around and gravely clasping his hands together behind his head. "How's _that_ for evidence?"

"Well, now we know one thing's for sure," Vulpix deducted. "We're definitely in the right place."

"Do you think he knows we're here...?" Leah quivered, sounding not-so-excited to be on this mission anymore.

"Don't say that," I hushed. "We need to stay collected and alert."

I scanned the surrounding area meticulously, searching for the slightest of movements at the edge of the fog's reach. I discarded everything that was in the detailed plan to find Fogbound Lake and adopted a more forthcoming mental approach. For all we knew, we could be getting stalked by this bastard right now. The poor soul standing rigid in the steaming pool of water was enough proof of that.

Mincinno looked around, noticing something was missing. "Hey, where's-"

"Homies!" Helioptile suddenly called from a few dozen feet away towards the back of the clearing. "I found it! The cave entrance is right over here!"

Not realizing I had been holding my breath until now, I exhaled deeply and followed Mincinno as he hastily motioned for us to make our way over. Helioptile's flash technique was just barely visible through the thinner fog of the open area. Eyes peeled, we all cautiously approached the yellow outline of his polished glow, which he took care to shut off once we got within regular view distance of each other.

"Don't suddenly split off from us like that man!" his leader reprimanded, angrily swiping a paw across the top of the electric-type's head. "This place is dangerous."

"Alright, alright, my bad," Helioptile replied, passively holding his hands up in surrender. "But hey, at least we found the magical mountain, eh?"

We all looked up and gazed at the base of our destination. Helioptile had indeed located a wall of rock extending up into the foggy fathoms of the sky, with a gaping entrance running into the mountainside. I walked towards the entrance intending to peek inside, and had to fight the urge to recoil from the feverish humidity radiating from the opening. Whatever gibberish Mawile had to say earlier about the steam in here might've been important after all, because this trip was about to get scalding hot.

"Well then," Mincinno remarked, nodding slowly. "Let's get a move on."


	30. Colloids

Chapter 30 - Colloids

The wheeze of hydrothermal pressure hissed an invariable echo through Steam Cave's corridors. Gone was the moderate dampness of the forest, replaced with a tangible pressure that irritated the surfaces of scales and fur. Restrained vision that the forest's fog had introduced was resupplied to us at the cost of an ill-conditioned ecosystem that effectively stifled any conceptions of an easy, complacent climb.

Those few hours spent outside in the almost tranquilizing air of the Grass Continent was now transfixed into a mystery dungeon practically designed to accommodate the elephant in the room - one we got closer to with every step. Every drop of humidity that my home continent was so conventionally named for was being put to shame, while the scrutinization of every cranny for clues and hazards hardly civilized the climb. Matted fur and the occasional strained pant raised no morales as floors and temperatures ascended together in a vertical race, my own allergic response dismissing my appetite for light conversation. It wasn't anything like the depths of hell, so to speak, but the loss of electrolytes alone seemed to tease the idea of dragging us there. This place was alive with the blood of boiling liquid, and we were crawling through its beating, boiling arteries - not an ideal place to spend the waning evening.

"Woo- its hot in here!" Helioptile exclaimed only a few minutes in. "We had saunas back in the northern Sand Continent, but this place brings home the bacon."

Mincinno peeked his head around a wayward passage to the right before signaling us forward. "You're not wrong," he said. "It would make sense that this would serve as a home for- what was his name? Volcano-something?"

"Volcanion," I corrected, mostly drawing from memories of the Great Valley encounter. "He called himself 'master of fire and water'."

"Sounds about right," Vulpix said, wiping a bead of sweat off of the tip of her nose. "I had heard a bit about Fogbound Lake when traveling with Comfey and Brionne, but I wasn't expecting there to be some sort of cave in between." She glanced up at one of the openings above our heads that led beyond what we could see or realistically reach. "-Especially a set of catacombs filtering steam to the top that also serves as a mystery dungeon"

"A great explorer once said that you've got to go through hell to see the wonders of this world," Mincinno remarked. "This isn't too far off, huh?"

"Guess not," Leah answered while bouncing one of her twigs to the edge of her lips. "We were prepared for this kind of struggle though, right Sage?"

I shrugged and nodded. "Right. It's... just too bad we aren't here to sightsee. That Pokemon-statue out there by the entrance, whatever species it was when it was alive, proves we're in the right place. We've got to be careful."

As soon as I said this, Mincinno's aqua tail rapidly did away with a wild Marcargo that slithered out of one of the smaller geyser holes sticking out of the craggy corridor we were filed into.

"Damn straight," the normal-type concurred, turning around to see the rest of us. "Watch our angles. These buggers don't seem too tough but there'll probably be more."

Notwithstanding the immediate future - what we would say to Volcanion, or what we would do if things went south - we pushed forward with caution in mind. Of course, we were not alone in our climb, and that first feral was no lone party; fire-types and rock-types patrolled the hissing catacombs intent on seeking out the pretentious intruders tainting their hallowed stomping grounds. They came with the acrimony of a bloodthirsty army but also with the insolence of their kind, and the unorganized chaos accompanying them would at best amount to inflicting a few insignificant bruises and burns before they were forced into submission.

The elemental advantage of the dungeon was definitely not a non-factor as the perspiration intensified with every attack launched, but it could not surmount to the fact that we were prepared with items and proper training. As if my appreciation for the little bulbs of fun wasn't already at its crux, the stock of blast seeds I had at my hip quickly found favor in my jaws against the fire-types that I preferred to keep a distance from. The bursts of energy exploding from my mouth gave me a sore neck from the recoil and burned the top of my gums, but these mild discomforts were nothing compared to the satisfaction of humbling an unsuspecting feral. And while the type matchup planted the tiniest seed of foreboding in our heads about who we were really here for, confidence was always heightened for the briefest moment when another floor was conquered. Enough food was packed to last everyone days, and I even had the foresight to add extra rawst berries to the mix, special commodities that were now proving invaluable.

Perhaps the biggest initial struggle was the organized assault not too long after - a monster house that admittedly caught me entirely off my guard. Even then, the tough part wasn't so much dealing with the enemy Pokemon, whose execution and coordination were subpar once my teammates and I gathered our bearings. Our struggle persisted to be one of endurance, for each foot in front of the other gradually drained the energy of our bodies exerting forces in this foreign biome.

At one point, the ferals started to come with decreased numbers and no improvement in strength to make up for it, and then eventually stopped coming altogether. Mincinno and Vulpix were conversing together in verbal stride about how they all must have just given up, when the real reason we weren't encountering any Pokemon was indiscreetly revealed from the heart of the dungeon.

Mincinno shrugged and glanced behind us momentarily. "...I swear, we probably scared them a-"

A vine whip split the air and silenced him mid-sentence. Something in the back of my head tingled, something vividly familiar, and it didn't feel quite right. He turned his head slightly and narrowed his eyes back with an interrogation prepared, but a unnatural vibration preventing his mouth from opening.

The first tick didn't fully register with all of the surrounding sensual competition, but the second and third ticks turned my blood to ice as cold realization set in.

 _It can't be..._

But I knew I wasn't just going crazy. I was certain it wasn't just me hearing things, because I wasn't alone in my surprise. All five of us heard it start at roughly the same time, and my companions froze in their tracks to allow for the frightening revelation to confirm itself as indisputable fact. Leah let out the tiniest of muffled gasps and was caught between a defensive stance and a mortified crouch, Vulpix mirroring her contingency in the moment following. Helioptile and Mincinno froze mid-step and didn't move an inch afterward. Dreadful recognition hit me the hardest, rightfully so considering my previous experiences, and I had to momentarily balance myself on my partner's shoulder to keep from tripping.

Then we waited.

I couldn't be certain whether it was the position we had reached or the pressure of nearing our target that kick-started the sound, but not even the turbulent increase in the vapor's whispering could hush the ethereal clock's rage. This had been the same group of five to hear it for the first time, but that only served to give the insidious sound a symbolic meaning that promised us minimal fortune. This was the second dungeon to literally toy with us like this. Toy with _me_ like this.

I decided that I hated mystery dungeons.

Nobody dared to say a word for at least half a minute. The sound was a constant thunder originating from nowhere, but would it be followed by lightning? We had to be ready for anything, especially now! Sitting still and confirming its existence was so numbing that I'd have sworn that it took hours for someone to finally twitch a muscle.

"Tell me I'm not imagining that," growled Mincinno in a tone that did not request an answer.

It was all too familiar... The cavern, the hampered senses, the dreadful simulation of just being discovered by a predator. The same presence back in that Arceus-forsaken cave was here too. And I could've sworn that this time, the ticking was just a bit faster than before.

To say I was afraid was an understatement, but it was likely for different reasons than the others. The sensation of being connected with the presence was immediately registering in my head, not just being aware of it. As if my lone presence here was causing the bridge between the spiritual and the physical realms to warp into oblivion. Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest if that was the case. It made perfect sense, or about as much sense as anything could make during this enigmatic turn of the tables.

 _...Is this happening because of me?_

If the events from the cave weren't enough to draw concern to myself being targeted, now it wasn't even a question. Clearly whatever force that was so intent on making me go insane did not dabble with coincidences. The same sound from before, here, when we were investigating the culprit of unprecedented crimes? Crimes that began around the same time I was brought to this world? It was like the universe was going out of its way to inform me that everything that's happened so far is tied in a thousand-year knot directly with the stone catastrophe. It was too early on to feel any guilt for something I wasn't sure I was a catalyst for, so sharing the terror of my companions would have to do for now.

"Th-this again..?" with canines just narrowly parted, Vulpix swiveled her neck to scrutinize the edges of her vision. "I don't... do you think Volcanion might be doing this?"

"...Could be," Mincinno whispered back to her. His demeanor was hardly deterred from the new sound, but his voice could not veil his critical discomfort. Even he was shaken up in spirit. "...Probably is. It can't be a coincidence that we're in his domain and this same damn sound is happening again." He nudged my arm and hesitantly took a step forward. "Hey, you following?"

I glanced at him with an expression of iron, and quickly subverted my gaze to once more scan the finer details of the room. His subsided words only continued to unsettle me as the ticking showed no signs of stopping and was now an unmistakable force in the room. The mystery churning around it confiscated all judgement; I felt both called forward and rebuked from this place at the same time. I was being torn in half spiritually, given no time to prepare for the battleground of emotions running through a skull that still lacked answers.

Standing in the middle of the cavern as if lost, our initial burst of confidence was now essentially exhausted, and indecision quickly replaced the rush. Vulpix and Mincinno scanned the walls twice as meticulously as before, but the resolve that the former had developed and that the latter always carried had been snuffed at the source. Helioptile, while not one to lose his lax composure often, hardly looked sure of himself now. And Leah was stone-still the whole time, something unidentifiable clouding her eyes. I simply idled and attempted to convince myself that this must be real.

"Uh- uh... Should we clear out of here?" Helioptile threw the idea out in the open. "We might've made it out okay last time, b-but I assume the circumstances here are way different, you feel me?"

Mincinno opened his mouth to put the suggestion down when his ears twitched and his eyes locked gravely onto something behind me. A moment passed where nothing happened. His ears twitched again, and then twitched once more, and he bared his fangs and furiously lashed his tail in a circular motion. Static electricity became a tangible entity as he tamed the swirling blue sparks formed so effortlessly, the shock wave attack being principally directed towards the nearest rock formation near a corner of the room. I watched alarmed as the electric attack cracked into the rocks and spread their entrails all around, electrocuting anything nearby. A handful of grunts could be heard from behind the hiding space, and I quickly deduced that we were not alone.

"Come out!" his voice bounced off the walls and overtook the ambient hiss of steam. "We know you're there!"

A couple of motionless seconds passed before there was movement to part the swirling vapors. From behind the steaming rocks emerged a tall bulky Pokemon that lumbered a couple of steps towards us. Flanking his backside were two strikingly similar Pokemon of a rudimentary evolution stage to the larger one, the similarities between them sustaining the notion of obvious relation. Out of the corner of my eye I caught two more emerge from a dip behind an active geyser hole that had been left unchecked during in the disoriented reaction to the ticking.

"Form on me," the normal-type sharply directed as the group of four Magmar positioned themselves to completely surround everything in the room. The Magmortar completed the pentagon that extended only about ten meters from our much smaller one, confirming that there would be no swift escape by foot. Each of us tensed up upon assessing the current change of events; they were already I n prime position to blast us with fire and force a break in formation, and we had hardly even had time to react.

There were five of us and five of them, and the way we were positioned indicated that the best way to handle this would be five one-on-ones. Not a single super-effective move on fire was known among the five of us, and we held three weaknesses with Helioptile's ability in play. Avoiding a fight was certainly ideal, but mere type-disadvantages were hardly enough to deter our confidence.

Situations like this were not uncommon in particularly hazardous dungeons after all, where some of the anomaly's inhabitants might not be confined to the same primitivism as most. Encounters with Pokemon of a higher intelligence was something that always must be prepared for, since elaborate strategy and logical reasoning were not above these enemies. But even with this in mind, I was not so naive to assume this encounter, similar to the direction this expedition was going, would end in a peaceful exchange of words. Just because they could comprehend passive gestures didn't mean they would be returned.

The sight of the enemy Pokemon coupled with the timing of the mysterious sound stirred something within me that manifested at the surface as anger. I took a step forward, the negativity in the air urging me to ignore the muddled situation.

"Are you the ones causing this?" I demanded, part of me weary that such brash opening words would end up badly for me.

"Silence..!" the Magmortar rasped, his tone so low that it barely outpaced the eternal background noise. Yet it was still plenty sufficient to get across an unmistakable conception of distaste directed at our presence. "You! Not another step further!"

The unabridged hatred lacing the blast Pokemon's voice made me want to flinch, but the way he perceivably struggled to cough it out made me more curious than anything. When taking a good look at the speaker, it really wasn't hard for us to determine why this was.

The Magmortar looked absolutely awful, as if he was succumbing to a disease that was rotting him from the outside in. He looked like he might fall over right in front of us! His Magmar lackeys hardly looked any better, a couple of them actually having deteriorated to a point that made their leader look almost desirable. What I assumed were supposed to be striking red and yellow colorations were reduced to dulled variations of their originals. Skin was flaking off and malnutrition was evident through visible ribs and thin appendages. The signature smirk one usually brandished on the lips of their species was absent in place of whitened cheeks and unsteady eyes. The look wasn't the type of malice that a predator sported when sizing up its prey; rather, it seemed more like the aversion that prey might feel towards a predator during its final moments. The scene was like an elaborate rehearsal designed to amaze trespassers but that had never been practiced. Growing tension aside, I wasn't sure if feeling intimidated was an appropriate reaction.

"Who in the hell are you? And what do you want?" Mincinno demanded. He was facing the Magmortar with a look of defiance on his face, his ears still pricked to catch any unnatural vibrations. The rest of us each faced a Magmar, each of the fire-types eyeing us with the same spite as their leader.

Their hostility suddenly multiplied at the sound of Mincinno's questioning. The Magmortar took another step forward, and a dim radiation begin to lick at the barrels of his two arm-cannons. He didn't aggressively point them at us yet, which was hopefully a sign that an exchange of words might hold some place in this encounter. But the act was enough to make all of us flinch.

"Fools! You bring death upon us and yet you have the-!" he struggled to speak, momentarily putting his arm over his stomach in evident pain. "Gah- you have the nerve to ask who we are? Do you have any idea... do you- _argh_! Make it stop!"

His face twisted into something foul, and he placed his arms to his temples in emphasis of what sounded like excruciating pain. Every syllable brought with it a new standard of outrage as he discarded what he was saying entirely just to writhe in some kind of internal agony. The fire locked in the Magmortar's cannons suddenly became easily visible from any angle, the flames now expanding from their chamber and threatening to be released by their host. His mannerisms wielding them around, caught between keeping us under duress and cradling his forehead, only further indicated that this was exactly what he planned to do.

I quickly tried to think of a way out of this mess, or maybe try to puzzle together these unusual accusations, but my thoughts refused to flow lucidly. Too many senses were being clogged and not enough sense was to be made of the words reaching my ears above the hammering in my skull.

 _Tick... tick... tick... I can't think straight with all this ticking! It's- it's making my head spin!_

The sound of Mincinno's voice brought my focus away from myself and back to the scene unfolding before me.

"What in Arceus' name are you talking about? We just wa-"

"Now you attempt to claim _innocence_?!" the Magmortar suddenly screeched, the tribulation in his voice doing more to silence Mincinno than the aggression. "We _knew_ you intruders were coming with your cancers! Now here you are, right on time!"

The fuming beast raised his arms slightly towards us and intensified their fireworks to match the summit of his emotions.

"There shall be no more excuses from you!"

With the sound of the first explosion came the sobering realization that the conversation was over. I took my eyes off of the nearest Magmar to witness the Magmortar's arm-cannons release white hot flames with unrelenting firepower. The gaseous energy became a boiling red mess - a contortion of blinding colors that the Magmortar's skin would've mirrored if healthy - and flew through the air as one large star-shaped projectile.

The fire blast attack existed for barely long enough to brace for before it collided with Mincinno's protect shield, one that he had the foresight to prepare upon our adversary's commencing declaration. Fiery entrails were sent spiraling at five different angles to connect uselessly with the walls and ceiling.

What followed was utter chaos.

Roasting me alive was the clear intention of the Magmar across from me, who was now approaching at a steady pace with embers licking his lips. Right away, however, I concluded that it was not in the right condition to make such an attempt. It was clearly subject to its own form of inertia due to the obvious extra effort it exerted with each heavy step. Whatever sickness it was dealing with was not restrained to visual symptoms alone, and I didn't need to know the fine details of why in order to take full advantage. I was not the instigator here.

No ticking-induced lethargy would keep me grounded once all order in the room was cast aside. Carefully watching the Magmar's eyes as we rapidly approached each other, I sidestepped to the right and witnessed him follow me with his snout, which had opened half an inch in response. He had expected me to dodge low to the ground in one of two directions, and a quick pivot off of my right foot in the opposite direction would reveal that he had predicted wrongly. I spun to the left as the flamethrower landed uselessly to the right, the flames flowing at an angle well off-target. Momentum was carried into a pair of unsheathed vines, the following contact audible throughout the whole floor. The centrifugal snap connected with the fire-type's temple at a point favorable for delivering force efficiently, and I briefly smirked at the satisfying sensation of vine on skull.

The Magmar impulsively raised a claw to the sensitive place of contact, a small trail of blood leaking from a critical point below his ear. His parting glare wished me nothing less than a painful death before the defeated Pokemon fell to the floor face-first.

I stood there with raised vines for several cycles of the background ticking, expecting the bastard to show some sign of life and fully intending not to miss a beat if he did. But he would not move an inch further, and a one-hit victory was all but confirmed. Had it really only taken one vine whip to knock this poor guy out? Even if he was sick and I racked him good on the side of the head, I was still at a type disadvantage, and it's not like I was an offensive juggernaut to begin with. That fight had been much easier than it should've been. It was finished in only a single motion.

 _What could've possibly happened to these guys?_

Memories of that cave back in our first long-distance expedition filled my head again. Those five villagers that were dying (or perhaps that had already died) from the effects of some plague had all succumbed to rotted skin and liquidized bones. The grass-types from before could not have been more different in biology than these fire-breathers, and yet the resemblance of exterior deterioration was beyond question.

"Sage, duck!"

Torn back to reality by the sound of Leah's desperate cry, my nose kissed the ground at the same time that an unbearable pain drenched my tail. The dreadful realization that I had spaced out in the middle of a fatal fight and failed to completely avoid the flanking attack was more than enough to suspend any curiosities I might have had about the situation. I gasped as the screaming nerves at the end of my body numbed just as quickly as they had been brought to life, and I swerved my backside to pull my tail out of the beam of flames above me. My eyes fell upon it during the effort, and I gaped as the appendage began to feel as though it were frozen in ice despite the contrasting state it was in.

My tail! _My tail is on fire!_

Horror strangled my gut as much of the three-leaf clover situated at the end of my body, the irreplacable facilitator of all balance and movement, was charred into a blackish color that was repulsive in both sight and sensation. Somewhere in the confusion I scrambled for a rawst berry to toss into my mouth, which I nearly gagged right back up. It didn't really have a very profound effect anyway, and I instead resorted to repeatedly slamming my tail into the ground in a manner that brought tears to my eyes.

Through blurred eyes I caught a flash of desaturated red above me, and reflexes took control of my limbs in order to dodge what appeared to be an oncoming fire punch. I couldn't tell who it was that must have lost track of their delegated Magmar, but in the following moments I inwardly cursed them along with my useless tail. Rolling away was simply an impossible maneuver without the leverage it usually provided, and a strike to the stomach drove the air out of my lungs and sent me tumbling several feet.

The explorer bag swung off of my shoulder with the momentum of the tumble and spilled out most of its contents along the way. A couple of orbs fell out and rolled to a stop beside an apple and a pair of seeds, all near enough to me for quick use. My peripherals would reveal the Magmar stomping his way over to me with his maw wide open, an orange flame developing in his depths of his throat. He was only a few feet away now and was already rearing his head back to let his attack loose.

There would be no dodging a third attack. In a last-ditch improvisation, I snatched the closest sleep seed up with a vine. I forced myself up and tossed it right down into his throat as the first of the embers were being released in my direction.

The Magmar's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, having failed to factor in the use of items, and violently choked on the seed now caught somewhere in his jugular. The chemicals within the seed in his mouth went to work immediately, extinguishing the flamethrower attack along with any aggression packed behind it. The fire-type fell to his knees as his he desperately fought against the urge to surrender consciousness, allowing for a wayward psybeam to crack him on the forehead and accelerate the inevitable.

I managed to roll onto my stomach and view the clearing-turned-battleground, hoping not to get caught off guard a second time.

To my relief, the conflict was already winding down. The crippled figures of four Magmars lay sprawled out on the crag, with Mincinno delivering the finishing blow to the skull of a disoriented Magmortar. Everyone else looked relatively unharmed besides a new bruise on Vulpix's shoulder and a mild burn that parted Mincinno's chest fur.

Previously noticing me get hit, Leah bounded over to my side with a mortified look on her face. She must have been referring to my tail.

"Holy- are you okay?!"

Determining that the threat was neutralized, the members of Team Carbon followed her, all grimacing at the sight . Vulpix already had her mouth in her bag, digging further into our dwindling stash of rawst berries to treat the wound.

"I'm good, for the most part," I coughed, motioning towards my scorched clover. "It's just m-my... a-ah!"

I hissed through gritted teeth the moment Vulpix smashed together two rawst berries and applied the extract to the center-mass of the wound. She spread the juice around as delicately as her soft paws could manage, trying in vain to ward away the pain. Adrenaline receded much quicker than I'd have preferred, and the numbness from before remained but also adopted a new sensation of painful unpleasantness. This was not unlike the harrowing experience back in the Serene Village schoolyard when fighting the Litwick.

"Ouch, dude," Helioptile frowned. "That looks like it hurts."

I squeezed my eyes shut, exhaling through my nose and grimacing. My expression alone served as a wordless agreement. It felt like a volcano had gone off on my tail now, and although the pain was slowly recending with the chill of the juices soaking into it, the anesthesia encompassing one of the more significant limbs of my body continued to unsettle my stomach further.

"Good thing Vulpix knows medical stuff," Mincinno remarked. "You look like you might need it with that shit."

"Well... I'm certainly no medic, but I did learn a few things traveling with Comfey and Brionne," Vulpix chimed in before she breathed frosty air onto the worst of the rawst-covered charring. "This should help minimize the damage, although..." she nervously avoided my gaze. "This is a deep burn, and your tail is so thin. We'll just have to see."

"You'll be fine, right?" Leah fretted as she hesitantly placed a comforting paw on my shoulder and continued to grimace at the blackness. "That looks pretty bad..."

"Yeah, can you walk?" Mincinno said after inspecting the damage himself.

I shook my head, trying my best to shove the awful sensation out of focus. "I-I'm fine. My legs still work just fine," I brushed their worries off and held out two vines. "Help up?"

Leah and Helioptile each grabbed one of the green fibers and together hoisted me to my feet. I had initially anticipated that my balance would be effectively nullified without a stout tail to keep the distribution of weight steady, but staying upright actually wasn't that hard once I got on my feet and moving. Keeping it from dragging on the ground wasn't difficult either since it was only the clover part that had been burned instead of the muscles towards the base. There was a blatant handicap in agility, so fighting would be difficult, but I could still make this work for the time being. I could still be useful as long as I maintained my balance.

"What in the world was that Magmortar rambling on about?" Vulpix asked no one in particular as she placed her medical supplies back into her shoulder bag.

"I don't know, but it sounded like they were expecting us," Leah answered nervously while I gathered together the spilled contents of my own bag. "Why would that be? A-And this ticking still hasn't stopped either."

"Then it's probably not going to... I don't like this place at all, but I think we're getting close." Mincinno glanced briefly at his Society gadget and motioned for us to follow him. "Yeah, we should be pretty high up now. Only a handful more floors. Everyone ready?"

We all nodded. Having gathered everything we needed and clearing the room, it was time to get moving again. No more Pokemon would reveal themselves as we easily cleared the floor and moved on to the next.

The following floors were barren of all life. We expected as such, and yet not even anticipating this very outcome could rectify the eerie atmosphere of an empty mystery dungeon, where a new unsoundness of mind made every corner and puddle seem like an ambush in waiting. Even if ferals no longer roamed the maroon halls or say waiting in the boiling pools for unsuspecting trespassers, the threat of another conflict was not out of the question.

In fact, it was the sheer lack of other life forms to give the dungeon animation was in and of itself a pinprick in my brain. The humid conditions clearly weren't hospitable to the average Pokemon, but surely there were some fire and rock types who would be inhabiting the corridors even this high up? That was how all of nature's dungeons worked, and yet it hadn't really struck me as too terribly odd back in that one cave where the five of us had located those villagers. Why were there no Pokemon here?

More importantly, why did I feel like we still weren't alone?

Whatever was waiting for us must have driven them away with a similar method to how it was calling us forward. None could deny the negative connotation of this realization; at some point it went unspoken between the five of us. I found myself no more at ease than I had been when tackling the toughest of dungeons I could remember, even at points where death was clawing at my feet. The barrier between halls full of Pokemon that take offense to the heartbeat of an intruder and halls full of nothing was a fine line to walk when picking favorites. As we walked onward and onward, that line grew thinner, before eventually I found myself wishing this could just be like the average dungeon run-through. What I would've given to encounter a wild Pokemon just to give this place a sense of normalcy.

 _Tick. Tick. Tick._

It wasn't getting any slower. But it was slowly getting louder.

The act of acknowledging its existence - an involuntary awareness similar to breathing or feeling the ground beneath my feet - was somehow enough to vindicate almost every ounce of mental concentration I had in me. I simply couldn't think with it constantly there! Marching transitioned into an unconscious movement as I began to feel like I was no longer in Steam Cave at all, almost as though I were outside of my own body. It was some kind of superficial state: I could see the twists and turns of the hall and follow the path, I could see my friends walking beside me and faring little better, but I felt as though I wasn't the one doing the walking.

Several empty floors passed and the sound never ceased or showed the slightest sign of irregularity. In an asylum of sharp corners and tricks of the mind, this was the one constant. The vapors constricting the air were not solitary in their deed as the tension itself could now be felt. Rock formations and geyser holes were passed by with the same regard as before, but even they seemed to reverberate in the presence of encompassing dread. The non-organic substances of the dungeon were all that remained to pay homage, and they snarled at our declining group for having the gall to face the unknown. The dungeon itself was conspiring against as in a manner far worse than any feral assault. Naturally, I wrote these swirling emotions off as a natural reaction to the pressure of the situation. It was perfectly normal to react like this, no?

 _No._

As the five of us reached the final stretch of the cave, the ability to think for myself was no longer something to be taken for granted. Something hidden within the mist was willfully causing me to lose my mind, and yet all any of us could do was keep moving. Mild paranoia was shifting into a nightmare that had the potency to affect judgement and kill all morale. There was more noise now, ringing off the walls and through the air, but I knew it wasn't real. None of this was real, I knew this. I couldn't shut out the plethora of negativity that threatened to disintegrate the last fragment of balance I had left. The bulwarks of my everything: trust, confidence, sanity itself, all eroding under the winds of a presence that was right on top of us but just out of sight. Only whispers of nonsense passed through the steam.

 _You are being lied to._

 _Time is running out._

I was drowning in such a stupor that I wasn't quite certain whether the voice was a figment of my imagination or if something was actually within the distant fog speaking to me. Nor would I get the chance to dwell on it for long.

"We- we should stop," Vulpix's exasperated voice sounded, pulling me out of a mental spiral that threatened to knock me over. The weight of her words was severely compounded by the weight of her tone, as it seemed she could barely manage to choke out coherent speech. She was experiencing the same sluggishness that I was.

I looked over and narrowed my eyes in concern upon seeing the perspiration that marred the integrity of Vulpix's white pelt. I cursed inwardly; I hadn't realized how taxing this would be on her. This dungeon had proven to be longer than anyone expected, and even though she was as well-conditioned as any of us, the rising heat was doing its worst on the poor fox born in the ice mountains. Granted, all of us were perspiring heavily, and it would be ideal to stop for everyone's sake. But none of us had the biological disadvantage that she had, not even me with my grass-typing in a place where vegetation could never thrive. I didn't want to think about what would happen to an ice-type that overheated, especially if they were a close friend of mine.

Mincinno glanced at his teammate before shaking his head no and pointing forward. "Look."

I looked. We had finally reached what appeared to be the end of the dungeon. Still surrounding the five of us were walls of crag, but at this point the geysers had disappeared from the path as it widened out substantially in all directions to create a vast open room. The surrounding cave by now had lost its clayish tint, now donning a grey so unsaturated that the only real color to be seen was that of each other's fur and scales.

That was until I spotted the opening ahead that laid bare the unmistakable darkness of the naked sky. It sucked up the color of the room like a black hole, and relief so fantastically intense threatened to suck me forward as well. If not for the frigid breeze of midnight air that blew through the room, I might have mistaken our escape for another hallucination.

"That must be where the lake is!" Leah exclaimed. "We're finally out!"

Fatigue lingered in her voice that would've normally surprised me if not for the dreamlike state I was currently tugging against. One quick glance of my companions and it was made clear to me that I was not alone in this unexplainable struggle - they felt its presence too. This was nothing like that cave back then, nothing at all. We had been scared then, but here I felt like... like I was dying. I felt no difficulty thinking about how everything could go wrong, but trying to think optimally was a chore that became more and more tedious. I prayed to every holy being that this would all be over once we stepped outside. All we had to do was step outside...

"It better be," Mincinno rasped in response. "I-I don't think we can take much more of this. This dungeon, it's..."

The normal-type trailed off suddenly.

Helioptile tilted his head looked on with a confused expression. "What-"

"Shh!" Mincinno exalted a silencing paw and held it at eye level. His eyes flickered to the walls and ceiling, inspecting the barren room from every possible angle. Scrutiny of the surroundings proved, however, to yield the same result as they had on the lower floors. The only thing in the mundane room was the five of us and a heavy silence.

Silence and nothing else.

"...It stopped."

The statement already went unspoken for all of us, but a dreadful chill still coursed through every bone in my body. It just... stopped. Just like that. Perhaps it was just the breeze, or perhaps it was the unnatural silence crushing us like we were at the bottom of the ocean that suddenly made my scales feel so cold. I wasn't quite sure the exact moment when the ticking had ceased, but it had to have been just moments prior. With its retreat went most of the dark influence it had so maliciously imposed on anything living, and a sigh of relief almost escaped my lips when I realized I could form rational thought without feeling as if I was trudging through quicksand. A massive burden had been lifted from my shoulders, but leaving no explanation as to why or how.

"...It stopped," Mincinno said again, his voice barely rising above a whisper as to not disturb the turbulence brought with the new silence. "Just like that, it's gone... Arceus almighty, what is this place?"

"I-I'm beginning to think that it isn't the dungeon causing whatever this mental assault could be called," a shaking Vulpix reasoned. "I've never heard of such a thing before, and it's happened to us twice now but in two different places."

I was already walking forward, resolve carrying my legs now that any artificial premonitions had departed. "It doesn't matter. We're here to find out for ourselves. There's no time to worry about it or wait for the others."

A few seconds passed. Finally, Leah was the first to agree. "Alright," she nodded, padding forward. "Let's go then."

"There could potentially be a fight, as I imagine Volcanion won't be so welcoming. If he's here, that is," Mincinno said. He glanced around once more. "Everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded and no objections were made. Even if the malevolence had died down, the heat and water trapped within the walls was doing nobody any favors. Succumbing to a heat stroke would be almost comically disastrous when there was likely much to come of a far greater danger. The breeze ahead was enticing to a fault anyway.

Forming together into a crude arrow with Mincinno at the point, the five of us trudged our way forward towards the breach. The heavy air dissipated in favor of a colder breeze as we made the transition to where Fogbound Lake supposedly sat waiting.

* * *

A/N: That's a wrap. I apologize for the wait.

I think I'm going to expand the time frame of usual uploading by another week or two. It's become clear I have difficulty maintaining the previous schedule, and uploading weekly is pretty much a dead prospect with school, basketball, and work on my plate. I don't have a chapter buffer, not anymore at least, so I'm operating on an upload-immediately schedule as it is. Sorry if this is keeping a lot of you on hold and is consequently hampering your interest in the story. I'll try to aim for an update per two weeks.

Part of what took me so long was how I went back to re-read and then lightly revise the older chapters. I was mostly just fixing an old tendency I had to use second person, and also a bad habit of using the present tense whenever Sage wasn't locked in a thought bubble. There were a few dialogue changes here and there, but not nearly enough to warrant that you should go back and reread everything if you've already reached this point beforehand. No significant plot changes were made. Still, if you had issues with some of the blatant imperfections in the text, then those should mostly be gone.


	31. Skipping Stones

Chapter 31 - Skipping Stones

At once, the thickness was gone.

While the air surrounding us decreased vastly in density once the open sky was above, the cold front that washed over had a similar effect in upsetting the atmosphere. New winds collided with the steam and forced any vapors upward to condense into the heavens, where a swirling cloud was fixed in a benign loop way above. The temperature plummeted to an almost pleasant standard—a stark contrast from what it had been inside the natural sauna at our backs, which was now reduced to an insignificant rift that discontinued at the expanse of dancing grass and standing rocks.

I glanced up and around, my nose drawing an angled circle to part the thin mist, and consented my breath to fall in rhythm with the gentle inhalations of the others. It was dark now, a few stars visible in limited pockets of the heavens that weren't obscured by the violent display of hot steam clashing with the night breeze. We were definitely at the top of the structure now, for all vertical continuation had halted to this point besides a few inclines and tall trees here and there near the edges. I hardly paid any attention to these details in those first fleeting moments of observation, however, in favor of the luminous display that stole the fresh air out of our throats just as soon as it was made available.

None could miss the ethereal glow at the center of the expanse, illuminating every gentle ripple in the water surrounding it. The massive lake that harbored its source drew a perfect ellipse around the top of the structure, only allowing perhaps a dozen appendages to sprout and filter the water across the grassy perimeter to somewhere off the edge and into the foggy abyss. At a rather pastoral velocity, the water glided over a shallow basin of colorful pebbles and sediment that grew dimmer the further it was from the lake's epicenter. Without question, the waterfalls we had seen at the base of the structure were born from this.

Accentuating the phenomenon was an explosion of color that drenched the sky and reflected off of the swirling fog directly above. I peered closer, my feet carried forward several steps by revitalized intuition. The geyser was absolutely massive, bigger and taller than any building in Lively Town, and I could feel its power even from the safe distance I stood at. It was not a malevolent force, however; it gently rippled through the lake and the air as a soothing reminder that there was something special to be appreciated at the end of every arduous dungeon run... and it glittered! It literally glittered from the red and blue and green and yellows that blinked and flickered and swam through the air and cast their identities into white translucence.

The lights moved with life, drawing lingering auroras through the air. They appeared arbitrarily random at first, but I came to realize that their transit possessed a certain rhythm to it—a symphony for the eyes as hour-long seconds passed. I squinted my eyes to get a glimpse at the artists behind the enchanting display. To the disappointment of my curiosity, the creatures were too far and moving too fast for me to identify from the shore. What I could discern to a fair degree of certainty was that they were not dangerous. In fact, nothing at all here seemed dangerous.

 _So this is where all of the steam goes. Thie cave is just a means of transporting it here, where it creates... this!_

"Alright..." Mincinno seemed to have snapped out of his stupor early, and was surveying every angle of the perimeter that could be made out with the inconsistent lighting. "We'll spread out and cover the area. The perimeter surrounding the lake is pretty large, so make sure to stay alert in case something goes down." He sniffed the air once before continuing. "I'm not sure I like how quiet it is."

With a quick hand motion, the normal-type gestured at Vulpix and Helioptile to spread out. They responded with synchronized nods followed by the two of them heading in varying directions. Vulpix traipsed toward the edge to ensure no enemy was stalking us behind or between the rocks lining the plateau's backside. Helioptile and Mincinno, each heading opposite of one another, chose to dissect some of the less prominent structures closer to the lake. These mostly consisted of smaller rocks and the scrappy bushes that popped up between them here and there. Even as they engaged in this careful task, I caught Vulpix stealing a few too many glances back at the lake, a distracting act that almost caused her to walk right into the face of a boulder. Her two teammates were, for the the most part, unsuccessful in hiding their own admiration as well. It seemed even these three, who had laid eyes on more of this world's land than I had, had clearly not been expecting anything like this up here. The sight's beauty was not lost on anyone.

I scanned the surroundings further. I was finally beginning to adjust to the invigorating atmosphere that so profoundly contrasted the suffocation of Steam Cave, and now perception was beginning to transfer toward surveillance of the new setting. After doing some cursory arithmetic as to the distance around the lake to the far side of the circuit, I likewise turned to Leah and motioned forward. "Come on. We can head around to the far side and check if there's anything."

The Fennekin nodded once and flanked my right side as the walk began. Moving forward on my two legs felt good for the first time since stepping foot on the continent. If nothing else, they would remain loose to prevent stiffness and cramps from the dehydration that had settled as an underlying nag in my throat. My tail now looked like a mess, one that would demand plenty of concern when the time was more appropriate, but even the inconvenience in balance that the injury brought was now at the back of my mind.

It occurred to me that I was hardly brooding over what would happen if an aggressive criminal were to appear here. The very thought, however, was enough to stir up paranoia. The answer seemed so simple and yet so manifold: we'd just... duke it out, right? We knew what we were getting into with tracking Volcanion here, with Mawile getting her hands on government information, and with Ampharos leading us into the belly of the beast. We came here with an objective and we would fulfill that objective: detain our first and only legitimate suspect.

...But how would we possibly fight a legendary Pokemon?

The closest thing I had ever witnessed to a legendary Pokemon besides the initial encounter with Volcanion was the episode at Ancient Barrow, where that Solosis had created a mirage to scare the class. It had been such an extravagant development that it didn't leave enough time to be registered as a deistic threat; once it finally did, it was already picked apart. There had been a stark difference between then and the experience at the Great Canyon, one I knew both Leah and I would rather forget despite getting luckier than we ever could've asked for. We had charged right into the danger and then frozen stiff under an immense amount of pressure, only to be saved at the last second. If there was to be any motivation for walking forward now, it could be retribution for that defining moment that required some foreign fairy to pop out of thin air and correct the misunderstanding. I knew my partner well enough to know that the competitive flame within her was second to none, and it was the frozen memory of that moment that had sharpened her focus on this mission more than the average outlaw hunt. Physically witnessing the rock-ridden corpses of other Pokemon certainly added steam to the initiative as well, for her and I both.

Under any circumstances, this mentality could not have drowned out what had been awaiting us at the end of Steam Cave. Fogbound Lake, in its entirety, was a pristine exposition of nature's capabilities, and showed no relation whatsoever to its prerequisite dungeon. And this was exactly what bothered me: the sudden shift in atmosphere here... it just didn't feel right. It wasn't that I felt like we were being stalked, it was actually the cardinal opposite. If the investigation into Volcanion's capabilities wasn't enough to convince us we were on the right track, then the dungeon did plenty to fill in any gaps. This was it, we had arrived. But was this _really_ it?

If there was anyone else here, they refused to make themselves known. Whether they were using the lake's incredible display as a decoy, or they simply didn't exist and we had been led astray, was the question.

Even with this prospect dwelling in the back of my mind, it was hard not to appreciate what the place had to offer. I imagined Leah must have come to a similar conclusion, as she lagged a full stride behind to maintain view of the potential cover to her right and also the rich spectacle to her left. From my peripherals I observed that both earned their fair share of glances from her in alternation; scrutinization for the former, and appreciation for the latter. Locked in or not, I knew this place was making the overzealous explorer within her do flips.

My focus was set perpendicular to hers, as I found myself mostly concentrating on what lie straight ahead around the bend of the lake. I would also occasionally glance backward to gauge where we were in relation to where Team Carbon had spread out. I knew it wouldn't be ideal to put too much space between us; otherwise we'd risk spreading our numbers too thin. Then again, the swirling air current display above was plenty high enough to have little effect on the plateau's surface, allowing visibility to grow higher than it had been since arriving at Foggy Forest.

Almost robotically, I asked aloud, "See anything out of the ordinary?"

Leah waited a moment before replying. "Depends what you mean by 'ordinary'." She trotted a half step forward in her gait to align the two of us side by side, but her gaze would still remain locked with the lake. Such tender snark was commonplace between us by this point, and yet these words held a certain truth to them. This corporeal tone would encompass every syllable as she continued. "I just don't get it. That dungeon, and that Pokemon turned to stone... how could it lead to- to all this?"

I took it all in exhaled deeply. "I don't know. We can't let our guard down though—" Another glance at the lake. "—especially now that we're so close."

Leah's eyes curved back to the rocks in silent deference. As I scrutinized the perimeter with her, I began to realize that it was rather pointless do so in this part of the plateau. By now we had reached the far side, our other three companions having shrunk to small blotches across to the other side. The amount of potential locations of ambush was notably less than where we had emerged from within the structure, especially considering that any cover would need to conceal the obtuse frame of a four-legged legendary beast. No, there was definitely no way we were being stalked from a distance close enough for a swift kill.

The relief was not lost between us as we stepped into a particularly open area where the smoothed stones flattened out for a fair ways towards the edge, a few trees speckling the backside here and there. Feet calloused from an excessive amount of walking across crag and continent found refreshing solace in the dewy turf that dominated the sediment below.

I glanced back once more, my eyes trimming across the curve of the lake's edge back to where we'd come. Any further progress around the loop would put the massive geyser in the lake's epicenter directly between us and the general position Team Carbon was currently investigating. Given this, as well as the principal exposure of the area, I halted with intentions of doing an investigation of my own. The task was simple at first, consisting of stone-hopping and corner-peeking, but eventually devolved into inspecting cover from longer distances away rather than up close for the sake of staying together. With no indication of results, it started to feel redundant after a while, and I eventually stole some precious minutes to intimately appreciate Fogbound Lake. The eternal light show reflected off my eyes as they finally rested on it for longer than a fleeting second. Finally relaxed enough to marvel at its beauty, I wasted no time doing so, as it practically had been drawing me in the whole time anyway.

What a discovery this must have been for those who lifted the fog however many generations ago! To be the first beings of sentience to see this sight must have been just as overwhelming as it was now; one with the power to beset me in a state of tranquility that overshadowed all of the heartache leading here. The only thing to do was to was take it all in; a moment of inner tranquility.

All inhibition was now crammed to the most neglected corner of my mind. I was at the edge, the earth beneath my feet the rugged line where plush grass met sediment and tide. The eroded texture had been dampened by the water tickling my feet with every short ripple carried across the lake. A pair of paws gently plopped themselves down to my right in the spot where my partner chose to share this moment. There we stood for what felt like hours, small waves rolling within me with every ripple of the water. Perhaps it was gratitude that we had made it this far, or more likely I was experiencing unprecedented admiration for one of the world's diamonds.

A soft sigh graced the air next to me, Leah being the first of us to show some sign of cognizance. My drifting mind reluctantly snapped back to a state of awareness at this, which all but evaporated after a mere glance at my back. I did, however, feel the presence of my partner a mere inch from my side now, the white fur extending laterally from her cheek coming alarmingly close to brushing my shoulder. Was it she that moved, or perhaps I had accidentally shifted in my stupor?

Two syllables of a feathery chuckle escaped her. "...You know, sometimes I would dream about this. Getting to explore the wonders of the world..."

When I opened my mouth to respond, I had to swallow and inhale. Having my breath stolen and trying to talk was not an easy task. "Y-Yeah… I never would've imagined we'd find a place like this…" I shifted in place and exhaled deeply. "I know we're explorers, but… wow."

We shared a mutual, dry chuckle. After a moment of silence, she sobered up her attitude and continued. "In those days where my imagination was my greatest companion, I would dream that someday I'd plant my paw prints on history… a-and make countless friends along the way." Another pause, this one more pronounced to allow for another silky chuckle. "...All the time I would sneak out of the house, day and night, just to see the world, just to feel like… like I was a part of it, you know? I needed that fulfillment, needed that sense of purpose. I was so afraid I would grow up and remain a laughing stock and never make any friends. But..."

She shifted in place ever so slightly, and exhaled deeply. Her uneven breath kissed the wind without friction even as it trailed off, and the soft sound within her embodied release rather than the turmoil I might've expected to come with the sensitive subject. Out of my own respect for the memory—and perhaps even a tinge of lingering guilt—I faintly nodded affirmation. I knew all too well how lonely she had once been.

"But then I met you."

I didn't dare shift my position to look at her, for the sentimentality was much too strong to do anything but concede it control over my limbs. But it was of no consequence; by the sound of her voice alone, I could tell she now wore the subtle smile she never failed to display when speaking from her heart. "I-I know I've expressed how much I love making discoveries and charting the places we explore, but this..." Now she was outright beaming, her face becoming as bright as the lake. "This is what it's always been about for me. Moments like this... they make me feel like the clouds I used to envy."

Her gaze dropped down to her animated feet as she anxiously rustled the damp grass. The pause lasted only a short moment before the lake's gravity lifted her chin back up the epicenter's grandeur. "I just want you to know I'm blessed."

It took me a moment to find a heavy voice, and when I did I almost winced at how it failed to appropriately compliment the glory of the atmosphere. Notwithstanding, a warm feeling tingled down my spine as the sentiment of the moment settled in.

"I... I'm blessed too," I replied finally, taking a deep breath. "It's- it's hard to put into words, a lot of the things that have happened. But... I don't think I'd have it any other way."

The words came out before I could really consider the internal weight they carried. But this time, I wasn't bothered by it. Even following a feud with a seemingly-sentient dungeon, an experience that ended mere minutes ago that still lurked in the back of my mind, I felt an unprecedented peace.

To be content; to find inner peace. Not to escape this world, but to make it my own. This was the definition of happiness, was it not? The nature of my life's goal was well into making this transition, just as it had been gradually doing ever since I got to Lively Town. But here, standing in the mist, at what could very well be the climax of stopping an unspeakably dangerous murderer, I was content with it all. Within myself I had found acceptance in being a Snivy. Whether the feeling lasted or not wasn't important.

I wouldn't trade this for anything.

I looked down at my hands and held them out in front of me. The scrutiny that might have glinted in my eyes was gone, replaced with an indifferent glaze. They had always been mine to wield. Arms, legs, reproductive organs, body frame—everything that distinguished a Snivy was all there, and was all my body had ever known. Maybe it was the events of today that finally brought about this realization of mine, or perhaps it had developed well beforehand and it was simply my own recognition that was delayed.

I smiled. In the midst of supposed danger lurking, I grinned like an idiot. "I mean it. We're gonna figure this stone business out and then—then we're gonna head back to Lively Town and…"

My partner eyed me with anticipation. Her voice came out in a single breath. "...and?"

"...and _live_."

 _We're gonna live._

Leah nodded, her cheek fur just barely whisking my collarbone thanks to the dilation of a smile. I simply remained frozen in place, frozen without reason to move. I was beyond questioning why the shift in landscape had been so sudden, why this moment was allowed to happen.

As the night had ticked on, the cascading lanterns swirling around the massive geyser only continued to intensify their luminosity. After staring at it for long enough, I began to realize that there was a certain harmony to the movements, almost like an aerial dance rehearsal designed to please the eye. Curiosity stirred within, and I found myself innately curious as to what it could even mean. I could only imagine what it looked like from within the controlled chaos. It was no matter to me; I was perfectly happy where I stood. I could stare at this forever-

"Hey, check this out," Leah perked up. Never one to stand still for long, she fished her paw around in the shallow tide with little regard for any wayward splashes made in the process. A paw-sized pebble was produced following several seconds of digging, which she held out for me to see. Before I could question the monumental hallmarks a rock must have in order to justify interrupting my blissful trance, Leah had already gotten rid of it. The Fennekin torqued her body to the right and brought her paw back while still balancing on her other three. Throwing her shoulder forward, she released the stone as her front leg followed the forward motion. It made contact with the water before skipping across the surface once, twice, and then a third time before sinking a good fifteen meters from where we stood. I quirked an eyebrow in her direction, and she beamed. "Before we met, I would sometimes sit by the lake by the square whenever I'd get tired of exploring. Skipping stones was a great way to pass the time when I wasn't busy causing mischief."

I smiled and narrowed my eyes at her. "You must not have had much time for it then."

Leah scoffed in a failed attempt to hide her humor, and shoved me just gently enough to not move me from where I stood. I looked sideways at the fake scowl on her face and wiggled my eyebrows.

Her gaze met mine and locked there. The smile on her face was contagious, spreading the fur on her face outwards and giving flavor to the amusement in her eyes. It was mirrored between us for a long moment, locked in time. She playfully raised her eyebrows, and pointed a paw at the fading waves of her thrown pebble. "Oh? I'm guessing you can do better?"

I broke the trance by glancing down at the shallows. "It's just a rock," I replied with confidence. "How hard can it be?"

Uncoiling from within my shoulder blades, my vines met the hawkish air for the first time to fish in the shallow tide for something to match Leah's toss with. I had stood among the sediment littered underneath the shallows for many minutes now, but only now discovered just how broken up most of the stones were, many of them too tiny to even firmly grip with thumb-less appendages. Nevertheless, I found one of a decent shape and size that would hopefully skip across the surface.

 _Heh… what am I doing? I'm supposed to be solving why stones are replacing Pokemon, not skipping them across the water._

I looked straight up. The steam colliding with the eastern winds had slightly intensified its spiral above the lake, but it was currently no cause for alarm. After a cursory glance behind me, I faced the lake and, with a bit of unnecessary force, chucked my own stone.

Despite not having the vine extended to full extension upon release, the added length, paired with my untrained swing, still gave the stone far too much vertical arc. It descended straight into the water with a pathetic _plunk_ , skipping three times less than Leah's had.

"Ah, damn it," I cursed under my breath, already peering down and frisking for a replacement. "Hold on, let me try again. I think I can-"

A paw firmly nudged me in the ribs mid-sentence. I looked up to question Leah, but held my tongue when I saw her expression had turned to steel. With her other paw, she gestured out towards the water; more specifically, the fading ripples caused by my botched toss. Although not large in size, the ripples contradicted the centrifugal flow of the waves generated by the geyser, bouncing the water in unnatural ways and allowing us to see what now rested on top of the surface.

Given the uneven light, the scattered flakes of gray were difficult to identify just sitting on the water. As the substance drew closer to us from the tide, however, it didn't take but a few seconds to realize what about it had silenced Leah. The fact that it was now sprinkling down from the sky only heightened the sudden tension that thickened the air.

I held my two hands out and cupped some of the falling cinders. The soft flakes broke apart upon contact and settled where I could inspect them. Not that there was much need to; I had seen these before.

"Arceus, these are ashes…" Leah whispered, her tone as gray as the soot crumbling from my tightened grip.

I was already backpedaling from the shore and onto stable ground, urging my partner to follow suit with a sidelong nudge. I hissed with urgency. "C'mon! We need to get the others." I glanced up. "That intel was right. We're not alone here."

I stumbled back to the open green. Leah was already a step ahead, all traces of her sentimental demeanor diminished with the alarming broadcast from above. There we formed for a better look, back to back with tails barely touching, and braced ourselves as adrenaline began its course. Any potential hiding spots—small corners of the landscape drenched in the absence of light, perfect for launching an ambush—were sought out at once and antagonized. The rocks near the edge, although too short to harbor a formidable predator, were still now a whole lot more interesting to the pair of us.

I glanced straight up, intending to seek out a source behind the trickling cinders and determine if the threat might be lurking overhead. What I saw cast aside all prior inhibitions and carved a dismal pit in my stomach.

The tempered swirl from before was now a raging cyclone of thick mist and gases. Although there wasn't a blaze anywhere in sight, its composition vividly resembled that of white smoke. The increased energy rippling through the the heavens, sending a good portion of the gray flakes into an elliptical spin to be thrown around further by the wind currents below. The ashes, while still a major concern, were no longer what worried me the most. They were not the only indicator of danger this time around, all but eclipsed by the sheer malevolence taking place above.

"H-Holy…" Leah breathed. Her tone by itself was enough evidence that she saw the violent exchange of gases above as well.

I briefly chanced a look in her direction, checking behind her to cover her blind side before checking on her immediate position. The fur on the back of her neck was raised, and her knees were bent as if ready to spring to action at a moment's notice. She looked tense and alert, but… there was no denying the undertone of fatigue in her demeanor.

Through my own self-evaluation, I reached the grim conclusion that I was being affected as well. My injured tail became distinctly heavier again, leading to unrest swirling within my gut and added weight to legs that had already been strained. It was similar to when we were stumbling through the previous dungeon; but instead of ticking, there was now only ash and fog to indicate a threat. It was as if the revitalizing sight of the lake had never happened—as if our moment of leisure was a figment of wishful imagination.

"Urgh—what's going on with this place?" Leah panted, a combination of her prior disbelief and a new twinge of fear riddling her tone. Exhaustion was audible and evident with every bated breath. "I-I suddenly feel like I can barely move…"

The unquestionable parallel I felt was one of many red flags screaming that something was very wrong here. My energy was being sapped without subtlety. Energy I thought the lake had confided me only from the magical view—gone. A scowl briefly coalesced across my face. What was I thinking? How could a sight from afar do such a thing anyway? It was all a trick, I should have seen this coming!

Something from within spurred me to action and halted my descent into hysteria. Recognition that the intangible threat was invading our minds had finally broken the seal of its own control, my surroundings once again coming into focus. Still, the struggle persisted.

 _Focus… Focus! I can't let this thing influence my thoughts any longer!_

Taking initiative was the only way. Through a culmination of willpower and fight-or-flight instinct, I forced my legs to move against the intangible tide. Leah, whose expression had drawn grim upon seeing my efforts, matched my haste. We wasted no time extinguishing our remaining supply of energy by jogging back around the lake in the direction where we had come.

"We've gotta regroup with the others, now!" I hissed once we got moving. The words tumbled out as a pronounced restatement of our next move, one that went unspoken with the audible roar of the clouds. Strength in numbers was the only chance we'd have at taking down a threat of this breadth.

I attempted to pinpoint where Team Carbon was at that moment so that a direct point on the plateau could be our goal rather than a broad general direction. My view was tangent with the lake's edge and ultimately insufficient for seeing exactly where we'd emerged from Steam Cave, forcing me to estimate from memory alone. In the uneven light, now exponentially decreased from the blanket of vapors blocking the entire sky, doing so was a near-impossible task. Even the geyser in the center of the lake seemed to have forfeited its influence at this point.

Something peculiar I noticed coerced me to cease my run for a brief moment, and I found myself doing a double-take back at the lake. It wasn't the lights themselves that were dimming; rather, it was the fog that was now obstructing it. Descending alongside with the ashes was a loosely-composed dome that blanketed end to distant end of Fogbound Lake. It held stark resemblance to the same fog that had embraced Foggy Forest below: it was thick, and visibility was hampered to a degree that complicated survival. And it was getting worse by the second.

I extended a vine towards my partner and shoved the tendril between her fur and the strap of her shoulder bag, coiling it once around the fabric. Now firmly locked together, we would move as one unit. No words needed to be exchanged about the necessity of sticking together now. It went unspoken that if we got separated in the cascading fog, it would be all over.

If it wasn't already over before it started.

I looked out again as we ran, tearing my eyes off of the lake and the heavens to try and pinpoint our allies once more. But a grounded fear would finally settle into my heart as I found that the steam cloud had well arrived, and my range had forfeited its fidelity. It wasn't one big body of steam; rather, a permeable mist fell and gradually began to thicken as increased pressure far above condensed more of the vapors downward. Through this Leah and I pushed forward, our speed hobbled by my lack of balance and our visibility and minds clouding with each passing second. I thought I caught sight of Vulpix's tails in the distance, and thought I might've heard Mincinno call out to us—or was that just the fog? The noise? On impulse, I strained my neck to seek answers. Yet I knew full well it would accomplish little.

Too many seconds had passed, and visibility had now dropped significantly lower than it had been even in the depths of Foggy Forest. It was at the apex of its density now, blocking virtually all light from everywhere and painting all directions in a gray blur. Our hampered pace slowed even further from the uncertainty that now laid no more than five meters away. Fortunately, I hadn't led us back onto the rocks in our mad attempt to rendezvous with Team Carbon. Silky grass still composed the ground beneath us, which meant that we wouldn't have to worry as much about where we placed our feet. Still, this single positive paled in comparison to the negatives: we had no direction, we had failed to reach our allies in time, and we had no way to defend ourselves against anything that could be lurking only meters away.

The irony whispered its cruel message through the void that had formed all around. We had crossed the seas and climbed this mountain visualizing ourselves as predators. We were now prey.

I glanced back at Leah, who had been riding my hip the entire time. My eyes met hers and locked there for a heart-wrenching second, the fear in her gaze contagious and striking me down to the soul. We halted our aimless traipse, our view distances eviscerated and movement no longer the safest option in a sea of exigency.

How badly I wanted to pull something off like one of us usually would in moments like these… if we'd ever had a moment quite like this. As if this dome could be diminished by one feeble leaf tornado, and all could be seen again. I didn't realize I had idle-mindedly attempted exactly that until the blades of green had already dissipated up and out of view. The empty results were as foreseeable as our fate.

In a breath's notice, the once-violent currents whispered a final howl that reverberated across a landscape I could no longer see.

Then there was silence. No wind, no echoes of hissing steam from the waterworks within. Nothing. Even my heartbeat faltered, as if it depended on nature's tenor to run its own race. If not for my own thoughts and for the faint sound of Leah's breathing, I'd have thought time itself had frozen.

Then, ending the tranquility as abruptly as it began was an outlandish noise that I equated to a vacuum being filled from air pressure. The sound wasn't incredibly loud—I estimated it was a fair distance away—but it was intense enough for anyone with ears to discern from the lack of sound there would otherwise be. I jerked my head in its direction and squinted, scavenging for more than just an audible discrepancy. Once again my efforts yielded only disappointment; my eyes would only be useful for anything within the surrounding circumference of a half-dozen meters. I would have to listen with my ears now. My acceptance of this was not seamless, but it was entirely necessary given the new unnatural sound that could only mean danger.

I listened harder, tried to concentrate more. Leah placed a foot forward with angled ears… when the sharp vacuum cut off and punctuated with an almost-robotic _ding!_

My legs, tight as they were from stabilizing my balance in place of my tail, recognized what was happening before my head did. Sending a prayer that the incoming fireball was not aimed low, I threw my shoulder towards the earth and yanked on the vine attached to Leah in the act, the both of us tumbling to the grass just as the fog above us was dyed orange and the vine was pulled free. Stifling a hiss at the sheer rise in temperature, I motioned to get back on my feet before instantly dropping again as another fireball pierced through the fog and streaked across my field of view.

"He's over there!" Leah's voice cut through the chaos. The Fennekin, still prone on the ground as I was, made a crisp gesture at the fog with one paw while reaching behind her with another. She fumbled her paw around within her tail for two seconds, hastily drawing the wand she regularly kept within the fluffy confines. By the time I looked to the alleged direction of our aggressor, she already had the wand raised to her eye, balancing on three paws and pointing it out at the void.

The wand stiffened in her grip, but she hesitated. If she were to fire now, she would be firing at nothing. Any and all sense of direction was once again restricted to memory alone, and there was no sign of anything to advance on or retreat from. Another silence fell upon the landscape, this one less pronounced than the last now that adrenaline was in full effect.

Ten seconds passed. Ten became twenty.

Leah gripped her wand tighter and jeered. "—Shit! Where'd he go?"

Head on a swivel, I dissected each potential angle of attack. It all looked the same once more: white and gray void, fluctuating in a way that felt eerily unnatural. Understanding that this tranquility could be whisked away at any moment paid my fatiguing spirit no favors.

I bit my lip, forced down the panic threatening my respiration, and began to think. We couldn't win like this, there was no chance. We needed to rendezvous with Mincinno's team, or escape the mist, or… or anything that wasn't sitting in one spot. This just gave the enemy time to pick a new angle while we accomplished nothing. There wouldn't be any opportunity to pace ourselves in regards to the environment's prejudice; we would simply need to be faster.

With a silent motion to correct the displacement from the initial attack, I was right at Leah's back once more. My next words were as stiff as my spine. "...You hear anything?"

"I- I thought I heard something really faint from over there, but-" Leah whispered. She pointed her wand in a random direction that held no correlation to where the fireballs came from. "-I think I might've imagined it."

"Can't you... I-I don't know, use your psychic powers to find him or something?" I whispered back.

I received a dry glare that quickly shifted to destitution. "I don't have psychic powers, I'm just a Fennekin." She pressed her lips together for a moment and fought her own accelerating breaths. "If he… If he attacks again, I might be able to get a shot off with my blast wand. But I doubt that will accomplish much." She stuttered and paused, turning her head over her shoulder to glance vigilantly behind her. "...I don't know what to do."

Neither did I. But I just needed to think! This was no simple trek through the woods or hike across a mountain. The enemy we were facing was not feral and feebleminded, not predictable or inept! Every inhibition I'd had—all in reverence towards the might of a Pokemon capable of soul-shattering acts—violently bounced around inside my skull. This was real, this was actually happening right now. This was _real_ , the bastard could attack any-

The silence ended before my thoughts could mingle further. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a faint glimpse of bright yellow that rushed forth and promised chaos. This time I caught full sight of the fireball as it grew substantially larger in my field of view by the millisecond.

Once more my face kissed the dirt a split second before an agonizing heat enveloped the space just above my backside. There had been no time to organize any evasive actions or even communicate the attack, and fear immediately seized at my heart. The unbearable notion that Leah might not have dodged fast enough guided my neck towards her. My heartbeat composed itself again once I caught sight of the aftermath of her own nosedive. Her fur had been dirtied by the sod, particularly on her nose and cheeks, but was unblemished otherwise and had not been burned off.

Not that the Fennekin cared to check on herself anyway. At once, she was back on three paws with the blast wand cast in her fourth. No time was wasted in seizing the opportunity. Three rapid bursts from her wand returned a volley that pierced the fog's event horizon in the general direction of the fireball, each charge navigating slightly different angles. A sharp sizzle could be heard following each discharge, the sound as short-lived as the projectile was in the field of view. All of my prayers that my partner had fired accurately were amplified under the eerie silence that followed.

I found myself back on my feet, but with no intentions to move a muscle further. Once more, with bated breath and knotted legs, I waited for several more seconds. All went still. Even the supernatural tension that rippled through the fog seemed to hold its breath and pause.

Leah's patience did not outlast mine, and another three charges followed from her wand at wider angles than before. They also disappeared and left us with no indication of making contact. A muffled snarl and a breath of smoke from the wand's holder betrayed her intolerance.

Finally, Leah would have no more.

"AGH!" A continuous burst of fire expelled upwards from her maw and dissipated into nothing. "What the hell do you want?! Why are you doing this?!"

The gaseous walls of the landscape rippled at once. The atmospheric pressure ascended further in only an instant, as if conscious of her vocal defiance and preparing to enact its own disciplinary reverberation. What felt like winds constructed of invisible needles coerced around us from all directions, stealing the oxygen from my throat. My poor balance was thrown further into jeopardy. The muscles in my legs burned even more keeping myself upright.

Leah was silenced as quickly as she had exploded. Her protest transitioned into a startled yip—a sound anyone would yield in their weakest moments when subjected to the mercy of a higher authority.

From all directions, the air shattered. "FoOLiSH GiRL! YoU hAVe DeLiVErED thE eMBoDiMeNts oF yOuR LaSt hOpE tO mE!"

Shockwaves carried by the air throttled me with each false syllable. The screeching tone, broken in ways I couldn't have imagined in my nightmares, entered my ears and threatened the stability that remained inside. It seemed like nature couldn't decide which way to toss me from the sheer force that the voice alone commanded; eventually gravity won over and wrenched me to a kneel. I held an arm down to catch myself and prevent a third faceplant. Still, my eyes sank to the earth.

 _That broken voice…! That's the same… same as…_

With hazy eyes, I forced my gaze back up. After blinking away the spots in my vision, I turned to witness a war raging within Leah. She had not stumbled or moved from the middle of the clearing in the fog… but her mortality was unquestionable in that moment. Tension locked her jaw; her tail lashed and her back legs rattled ever-so-slightly. But these were only fine details; it was her eyes that truly betrayed her. I could only see them from an angle, but even from my position there was no misinterpreting the fear in them.

Right there in front of her, now emerged from the unknown, towered Volcanion.

I might've had the mind to question his physical state if my head wasn't such a jungle of disorientation. The basic anatomical structure of my one encounter with Volcanion was unquestionable; that, however, was where the similarities hit a fault. His shell was tainted with a gray-brown tint that ruined what was once crimson, further punctuated by cracks and incisions all over him. His eyes locked onto Leah's, but like a mirror they carried the same hopelessness. Had he gotten a bit smaller?

It was of nobody's immediate concern. Leah balanced on three legs and leapt forward, aiming the blast wand right at the beast's neck. Her quickness surprised both of them, each caught up in their own mental inertia. She lodged the wand right under the rigid joint separating Volcanion's neck from his midsection, completing the motion a half-second before a crimson leg could be raised to stop her advance. With the business end of the weapon pressed against his esophagus—a surprisingly fleshy area—Leah let loose the final charge in the twig.

I was on my feet and dashing forward when the blast connected. Every ounce of energy both Leah and her wand had left was condensed into a whirlwind of fire. A condensed bubble of energy formed where wood met flesh, transitioning to a shockwave that jettisoned white flames into those on either end of the wand. A roar of astonishment mixed with Leah's shriek of defiance. I was several meters far enough to avoid the bulk of the explosion, most significantly the fire that could cripple me further. The shockwave did, however, do plenty to shove me back to the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the blast had done no favors for Volcanion's already-battered form. But my attention was already claimed by my partner, who had collapsed from the blowback effect and was slow to get up. I already had a reviver seed drawn when I raced to her side. A two-second diagnosis revealed that she hadn't sustained any major injury, minus a few strands of her ear fur. The blast had merely stunned her.

I pressed the seed into the Fennekin's mouth and allowed her to half-consciously chew it in-between strained gasps for air, just as we had done countless times for each other in the past. A few seconds to let the vitamins reach her bloodstream and she'd be back on her feet again. A sickening convulsion rang through the air to my back, not unlike coughing… if the thing being coughed up was a lung.

I pivoted towards the anguished sounds with capitalization on my mind. Volcanion had clearly been caught off guard by the attack; the way his eyes bulged and his voice was stolen and replaced with a clamorous wheeze declared plenty. The signs of weakness gave me a breath of confidence as my feet left the ground in a forward motion. I swung my vines through the air at his throat, where a new shade of crimson had begun to replace the old.

Unfathomably, the legendary beast managed to remain on four feet and gather his bearings before I could dig further into his wound. Even with the damage he had sustained, Volcanion shielded himself with one of his cannon-limbs with minimal effort. I forced the tendrils into the maroon skin to no avail. They barely left a smudge on the surface.

With my momentum going forward, there would be no opportunity to dodge his counter. A gurgled grunt escaped him upon planting his feet into the ground and swinging the appendage in a backhand motion. His haymaker slammed into the side of my body before I could even come to a halt, and my feet left the ground.

A sharp pain split my head into pieces as I was launched several feet into the air. Spots flooded into my vision and a vacuum filled my right earlobe where most of the impact was. The numbness that followed softened the impact with the ground as well as the tumble that followed, yet somehow didn't make the experience any less miserable. My teeth clamped down on the edge of my tongue upon impact, and the unpleasant taste of iron filled my mouth.

For a moment I laid motionless—any impulsive commands to move would've surely been rejected by my screaming body. Transcending the sod that weighed me down was a new agony that spread throughout my skull but was centered internally where the cold metal had made violent contact.

I rolled over onto my stomach, spat a mouthful of blooded-spittle onto the grass, and craned my neck upward. Volcanion, slowed by his weakened state but motivated by his rage, had already begun to advance. Both of his cannons were raised with bad intentions in mind. I stared down the barrels as their outline shined a cyan blue, until their base expanded as if shoving a large mass through. I immediately rolled out of the way; I didn't need a scouting report to tell me to dodge whatever the hell was coming. And judging from the force of the water streams that shredded the soil where I had just been, I had made the right decision.

I used my momentum to roll to a stand and fumbled around in my bag for relief. My hand located the compartment I needed at once. I moaned in relief as the rich flavors of a half-squished oran berry quickly mixed with the blood in my mouth to numb the pain.

"Sage!"

Volcanion had already begun charging up another pair of hydro pumps when a streak of psychic energy pulsed into the side of his head. With a nod in my direction, a revitalized Leah bounded forth and exhaled the flames that had built up in her gut, while I surged forward with hope coursing through my veins. Volcanion outstretched his tendrils to let loose their pressurized contents—one cannon aimed at either of us—yet he failed to connect on either poorly-aimed hydro pump and instead merely veered us off long enough to prevent himself from being flanked.

Regardless, the disorientation in the monster's flat-footed attempt at defense did not escape me. He could maneuver his cannons in any direction he pleased, but his line of sight was another story. Leah and I shot locked eyes across the clearing at the same time—she had noticed it too. A silent plan to take advantage of our speed and size was ratified with a mutual nod between. All we had to do was play our angles right and maybe… just maybe!

The wind howled violently as I circled around to approach again. The crimson giant was already being flanked by Leah sprinting full-speed from another angle, who ducked beneath another hydro pump that split the fog and overshot her by centimeters. Despite the time her distraction bought me, however, the debilitation of a broken tail prevented a timely capitalization, and I only managed to land a single useless vine whip on his back—a papercut at best—before being forced to retreat. Volcanion swung his tendrils like wrecking balls when his personal space was invaded, for his prerogative was one that sacrificed accuracy for power.

Without a moment to consider my actions, I took advantage of his missed flails and lunged again. A leaf blade across the leg and another along his midsection split his sickly-colored skin and drew a roar of pain from the depths of his cursed gut. Leah was on him as well, expelling her fire in precisely-aimed bursts in an attempt to pump her superheated elements into the open wounds of the legendary that we had created together.

To my profound dismay, his reaction towards the onslaught was merely one of impatience rather than the misery we intended to inflict. I barely had enough time to consider his next move before a better-aimed swing sent me tumbling a dozen meters off. I veered to a stop as a limp carcass would, without a move made to slow my skid.

Every hit, every ounce of damage sustained, every passing second endured in this hell was taking its toll. Not even the omnipresent forces that whispered chaotic nothings through the mist were necessary to bring about this fatigue. I was so, so tired; I so, so badly wanted to lay like this forever. A subtle itch formed underneath the fabric cloaked around my neck, and raising a hand to pick at it revealed that I could now barely feel my limbs at all. Sand and sod plastered all over my face and midsection, yet each grain felt miles removed from contacting my skin. Everything felt so far away…

A familiar feminine cry derailed any thought of surrender. Leah's pursuit of vengeance was blurred by misty eyes, but little resolution was necessary to understand the context of her actions. For a moment, just a single hopeful moment, it looked as if her nimble movements and swift flamethrowers would be too much for the beast, whose body had become multiple shades of crimson at this point: liquid and solid.

Reality would overcome the last hope remaining within me. Volcanion's flailing leg finally tripped Leah onto her nose and shattered the momentum she had gathered. There was really no chance for her to dodge the point-blank hydro pump that followed. The attack seemed to drown out my desolate cry, yet it could not drown out the timbre of the fire-fox's temporary agony. Nor could it drown out the deafening thud of the limp body of my dearest friend landing next to my own.

The state she was in from a visible standpoint broke my heart. Only moments ago she had braved the onslaught of a legendary beast. Only moment ago she had been standing beside me by the lake. Now she lie several meters away, an unmoving lump of soaked fur. Every spark of resistance in her snuffed by one hit...

"Le- Leah…" I tried to push myself to a stand, and collapsed in the process. If I could just—

"SiLEncE, HUmAn! yOuR fATe iS sET iN sTOnE!"

Dissonance rang through the atmosphere and spiraled with the gases, but it was just ambient music to every distraught nerve. My only focus was on the lifeless Fennekin who laid a cruel distance away—just a bit too far for me to reach. Her eyes were shut, so with my own I scrutinized her for any sign of life. Any sign of life… anything…

"yOu WiLL roT aWay aNd bEcOmE aSh jUsT LiKe tHe rEsT oF yOuR woRtHlEsS KiNd wiLL!" The voice ricocheted off the walls of my skull. "dO yOu noT rEaLizE yOu Struggle aGaiNSt wHaT iS iNeVitAbLe?"

Volcanion—controlled directly by the demon—arched his neck and expelled waves of fire in my direction, eliciting a sound of crooked agony from himself as the flames passed through his marred throat. With strength I did not know I still had left, I shoved myself into a roll towards my partner. Hot danger burned up the air occupying where I had just been, yet the assault did not stop there. The attack's entrails began to lick at my tail and, as I failed to roll out of the way fast enough, caught a chunk of my midsection in the blaze.

My scales registered rolling across the mud out of the hazard; the bridge of my nose registered resting to a halt on something soft and soaking wet. But my vision had turned a confusing shade of green, and my mind was too occupied trying to figure out why. There was no substantial rush of pain, yet I knew it had been enough. I refused to look at the damage. For all I knew, there wouldn't even be much there to look at.

Instead, I looked down. I had rolled right into Leah, right into my final resting position. Her eyes, closer to mine than they had ever been, had fluttered open. They remained grey with the taint of defeat. Only the green of my scarf reflected off of her eyes now. Her own scarf was just as blinding for me, almost as if it was producing a glow on its own.

"I'm sorry…" I tried to whisper. Whether she could hear it or not was a mystery to me. She tried to mouth something back, but her voice and my ears failed to transact.

A sort of peace enveloped me in that moment… perhaps resignation? If we were going to die, we might as well die intertwined: fur by scales, blood by blood, scarf by scarf—

...Wait, what? I squinted back through the boundary of reality: Leah's scarf really _was_ glowing. It's brilliance blazed with such luminosity that I instinctively forced my eyes away as though it were the sun.

Volcanion now stood directly over us, glowering down with his corrupted physique, prepared to finish us off. Yet every fathom of the green flames erupted from his maw moved in slow motion. Everything in that moment was muddy and unclear. Was this what it was like to die for a grass-type?

The glow of heaven's green danced with the glow of the approaching flames, conceiving a harmony of life and death. Hugging Leah close, I squeezed my eyes shut and resolved to never open them again. The saturating sensation of the Harmony Scarf echoed through my empty veins one final time as the blanket of fire descended.


	32. Prime

Chapter 32 - Prime

I wasn't sure if I was alive.

I wasn't sure if I was dead, either.

Nothing more than an empty canvas of white stood in place of the black vacuum that I had expected death to bring. I felt like I was floating a mile above the rocks, the fog, and the pain. It had all melted into a medley of nothingness where not even the most incoherent of thought could exist.

What came next swallowed the emptiness whole. An explosion of color ripped across my mind's eye without precedence or subtlety, cultivating into rainbows that did not seem to end at red or violet. These became the canopy of an endless forest, one that I could perceive with cognizant thought unlike the void of white prior. A forest that drew me in and promised benevolence.

Whatever was left of my being grew convinced that the sudden sensation must've been an avenue to the afterlife. Whatever part of me that was still alive was now convinced that I was entirely dead.

Time didn't exist here, yet I could still look around. A lining of distant trees contained an unmarked steppe with leaves and grass flowing in a false wind toward a single mountainous tree in the center. The earth in the lucid vision rippled and breathed a tangible breath into the monument, as if they were all roots sprouted from the trunk. Rivers of more rainbows streaked through the bark's arteries that lay exposed to the air, not losing a drop of their substance, before spiraling into the face's convergence. Spirals of light spun and encompassed my mind, this time of a green that seemed to satiate my soul. I tried to think of locations from my life to compare the tree's size to—perhaps a town or a city—but could recall none to measure.

Then the pattern on the massive tree pulsed, dispelling light that blinded eyes I no longer had. Energy took the form of wind and took to the grass and the trees. The breath they had breathed was returned to them tenfold, and ejected into me as well, wherever it was that I was observing from.

Somewhere far off, I felt another pulse. It ran unfathomable lengths of time and space to resonate with me.

As it began to oscillate with rhythm, and as the expanse separating it from myself closed in, I realized it was my own heartbeat.

Reality banished the vision at once. My senses materialized once again… yet everything I was aware of felt off. Every tingle that sparked within every nerve held a feeble desire to take control. But I couldn't move! Each of my senses were apathetic to my own will as I became a mere observer of my own bizarre metamorphosis. I knew I was alive; I had to be alive to experience such a rush of energy.

My brain struggled to process the onslaught of stimuli, yet a recollection of previous events still fought its way through. A fog obstructed most of what had happened, but the outcome of defeat was set ablaze in my mind. I was supposed to be dead, simple as that. No string of logical circumstance could explain there being anything but oblivion, let alone this annihilation that hardly allowed me to scream but one thought!

 _Leah._

I was given no time to ponder her fate, provided I could judge time at all. Agonizing pressure began to squeeze my scales where numbness had now departed. Every muscle and bone, every last cell suddenly shrieked as if being stretched an infinite length. Sensuality amplified beyond a trivial ache, beyond the tearing of ligaments and tendons, well past what my body should've been able to handle even in the best of health.

A new incursion of energy flowed through places within me I didn't know existed, spiking the shallows of my stretching muscles while gnawing sequentially at the bones within.

I tried to draw in air to gasp, or perhaps to call out, but discovered that the act was impossible. It wasn't impossible like trying to breathe underwater; rather, it felt like I didn't possess a mouth or lungs to breathe with at all. I wanted to struggle but discovered I had nothing to struggle with. I wanted to stand but I had nothing to stand with.

Even in this muddy state, I could tell exactly when the event horizon of my transforming biology had arrived. All at once, when the final and most violent spike of energy shook my core, and when the cloak of light was mostly lifted from my eyes to reveal myself back at Fogbound Lake, I found the capacity to move again.

"Ngh… What…?"

The act of pushing myself off the ground should've been muscle memory, yet my body seemed to realize before my mind did that these muscles no longer existed. Instead, I subconsciously utilized the slippery properties of my abdomen to raise my head and stabilize my balance, foregoing my legs entirely. By the time the outlandish way my body slid across the ground registered, I had already completed the motion without a thought.

Perplexed, I craned my neck down to investigate. My scarf was radiating a salient glow that hurt to look directly at, which might've been enough to claim my attention had what I saw below it not stolen it first. I had long grown used to observing my own reflection in a puddle or a mirror.

But now, for the first time since the day I had woken up as a Snivy, I looked at my body and saw a stranger. The same aversion from then now rose from the dead to steal the air from my lungs. I hadn't used my legs to get up because I no longer _had_ legs.

Oh. I was no longer a Snivy.

Something beside me shifted. My eyes panned from my own body to the space beside it, where a heap of bright fur was tinted green from the luminescent combination of our scarves. Yet it was not the same heap of fur that collapsed every night into a bed meters from my own, or the same one that had covered my back for the entirety of my life. There were blatant resemblances to who I had been expecting, perhaps, but the changes were just as pronounced.

Somehow, though, my eyes weren't tricked even for a moment. Relief bubbled to the surface of my foreign tongue when I realized that Leah was already awake—alive!

She experimented with her own biological changes while her scarf provided her far more light than she needed. It didn't take her but a few seconds to stand on two legs and flex muscles unknown to her previous form and allow awe to wash over her face, which hadn't changed much unlike the rest of her body. An entirely different aura radiated from her when she balanced on two legs for the first time in her life, but even so, I could tell from her little movements that this was definitely still the same Fennekin I knew.

Her eyes panned over to me, glided along the length of my elongated tail, and finally rested parallel to my own. We stared into each other for a moment longer before she broke eye contact to glaze over the rest of my body again, as though she needed further confirmation that I was real.

Her eyes widened to reflect more of the limelight, and she gasped in a voice a few decibels deeper than normal. "S-Sage…? You look… Sage! Our scarves!"

I drew in a breath to respond, but no words dared to form. Nothing made sense anymore, so what could possibly be said with any degree of certainty? There was far too much to comprehend. I wasn't even sure how much time had passed, or if I were still capable of—

—Fighting. I immediately snapped my neck to the side and sought out the enemy. Fortunately, I would not have to look far.

My eyes sought out Volcanion and locked onto his diametric gaze a couple dozen meters across from mine. He stood firm, just as a Pokemon of legend should, but all aggression had ground to a halt. His eyes, along with the remainder of his psyche, sat rigid in the light of my scarf. Unmoving. There was no visible reverence on his part; not even a quiver of inconvenience that his prey had persevered; not even a pint of disbelief after observing something that was surely thought to be impossible. He hesitated to even twitch under the green spotlight that dispelled the fog and quadrupled my view distance.

Something swelled within me. No, perhaps I wasn't certain if I could fight like this. But as I rose to my tallest point to look down on a legendary monster, and as my vines revealed themselves to me as longer and sharper than before, the majority of my doubts were extinguished. Voltage that gathered within my biological weapons—the new and the old—electrified my scales and injected me with surreal confidence. My form change had even repaired the previous injury on my tail as though it were nothing more than a scrape—I had seen it healed, I could feel it working, and as the seconds passed I was starting to believe it all too. I felt so _powerful_ now!

Leah felt no different, I could see it. With her own self-evaluation behind her, she abolished any implication of fear by picking up the wand she'd discarded earlier and pointing it threateningly at Volcanion. She might have exhausted its charges, but that really didn't matter: she could still channel her fire through any old piece of wood Her newfound confidence radiated with every movement as she wielded the stick without compromising her balance, courtesy of her bipedal upgrade.

She looked angry. But, even more than that, she looked _hungry_.

Volcanion still hadn't shifted. High on myself, I slithered a meter towards him. I didn't know what to say. A threat sounded nice in my head, but it would accomplish little, so I instead decided to start off simple.

"Explain yourself."

Each vowel rolled off my tongue with an emphasis entire novel to me. My voice was marked up to the regality of my new form, something foreign but not at all unwelcome.

The impatience that laced each word was not unlike how I truly felt though. Right now I was staring down what I believed could've brought me to this world. Played with my head! Stolen who I truly was! The pure anger—there was really no other word for it—that flowed through me was nothing like the fog's melancholy from before. This was enriched by a yearning for blood that ran almost as deeply as my yearning for answers.

"What even _are_ you? What do you know about me?"

Silence persevered for a number of passing seconds that I didn't bother to count. I searched for movement: any sign of acknowledgement, even the smallest—ah!

Volcanion's jaw parted an inch and hung there suspended. A few seconds passed like this, and I began to think he had frozen stiff again. Even with the inhibitions that came with being tossed into a new body, I was about ready to slither forward and force the initiative myself. But before I could do so, Volcanion's jaw moved again, this time with a response behind it.

"...eVeN hERe," the voice that wasn't his hissed. When compared to the broken dissonance of before, it now sounded as though every syllable was being forced through a jarring veil of concrete. "eVeN hERe, wHeRe yOU sTanD miLeS fRoM yOUr pAtRonAgE. eVeN hERe dOeS yOUr fEeBLe aTTeMpT tO sAVe yOUrSeLvEs FiNd LigHt."

His cannons began to rise and charge themselves for release, and embers licked at the crease of his mouth as he spoke. "yOU aRe aS pErSisTeNt aS yOU aRe WoRthLeSs."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" I was screaming now, fighting a losing battle against frustration. Yet he didn't seem to hear me at all; instead, he just utilized the seconds of wasted breath to personify his animosity into a growing fireball. My collar itched where my vines lay dormant, as though they were chastising my brain for my hesitation. Had I really been expecting a verbal elaboration anyhow?

The battered gargantuan rose his neck to the sky to fully reveal the massive attack that had been loaded in his larynx, preparing for me a different kind of answer. His eyes sought me out specifically while they began to reflect the orange from his own charging flames; the eerie glimpse I caught of the demon inside sent a shiver up my spine and pledged that my freak evolution would not excuse me from this dance.

I tensed in preparation to dodge, but Leah had already bounded in front of me before I got the chance. The attack was released, but she did not budge; instead, she extended her claws toward the onslaught and let out an omnivorous cry as though she were pulling it in towards herself.

The oncoming fireball faltered in the air directly in front of the Delphox, as though it were having second thoughts. Without missing a beat, she moved her arms in a spiral above her head, and the flames obediently answered her command by splitting apart into a gyration that skimmed the earth around us in a wide circle but did not threaten us at all. Her wand traced patterns in the air, orchestrating the choir of danger to sing around us and become her domain. Finally, she briskly brought her claws downward, enticing the flames to simply disappear into nothingness. It was so smooth, made to look so effortless; only the way her mouth gaped momentarily at her own artistry betrayed that she hadn't already practiced this technique many times.

Back we found ourselves in the same standoff as before. The attack hadn't seemed to even phase Leah's stamina, and now that her moment of awe had passed, she wasted no time acting vain in the light of her display. With bared teeth and her cloaked arms extended out in sport, she mocked him: "That all you got?!"

She would regret that.

Not a grain of Volcanion's pride was bruised enough to show underneath the daggers in his eyes, nor was his rhythm broken to any noticeable degree. A pair of cyan circles permeated through what little fog remained, and the sound of liquid being pressurized into cylinders filled the air. Two broad hydro pumps followed up the fireball, angled intelligently to cover the largest target area possible.

This was of no consequence to me, as my elevated acceleration allowed me to slink between the danger without getting wet.

Leah's new form, on the other hand, was not so nimble—or perhaps it normally was, but the cone of fur that extended from her waist down caught under her foot and bottlenecked her as she tried to leap away. Right as I turned my head across to check her, she fell to a knee and only had enough time to blink before the jet of water found its mark.

I froze for a second, and only when I inhaled to scream her name did I remember to breathe. She stopped tumbling a dozen meters away from her initial position, where she lie still—just like before.

In that moment, Volcanion became little more than an ambient thought. All I felt was my heart dropping deeper into my gut than I thought it ever could before this day.

The grass whiffed underneath me as I snaked across the knotted grass as fast as I could snake, hoping to reach her side quick enough to recuperate, if not to simply make sure she was okay. But, an immediate movement in my peripherals reminded me of the threat, and I halted my dash just as another jet of water occupied the space mere inches in front of my nose, leading me to backpedal with a barely-muffled yelp.

I cast my eyes to the enemy, who had effectively re-established himself as much more than an ambient thought. At a rate alarming for his size, Volcanion trudged towards me with cannons raised and ready to fire. A frustrated grimace across his crooked face declared increasing impatience.

I started towards Leah again, but froze. Volcanion's aim was trained on the space between her and I, leading his strike in case I dared test his aim again.

With a huff of vexation, I altered my course and broke straight towards him instead. I tore across the grass in a zig-zag and surprised him at his feet. He threw a blind jab with one of his cannons, but I stopped just out of range with vivid recollections of using leaf tornado as a Snivy rushing to mind. Avoiding his strike, I whipped my tail horizontally across the space in front of him, expelling burst of wind and foliage that cut into his frame and sent him tumbling away from me.

 _"Damn you!"_ I hissed into the attack.

I wasted no time swerving in a semicircle and gliding the other direction, right over to Leah's side. My heart clutched in my chest at the sight of the Delphox's soaked fur, then leapt when she rolled over and waved off my attempts to check on the spot she'd been hit.

"I'm—ngh! I'm fine, I… can still fight," she assured me between heavy rasps. An unbidden cringe on her face personified her pain as I helped her up with a vine, and a spike of imbalance overcame her enough to lean on my collar for a moment even after she'd stood up. One paw was occupied by her wand that she'd somehow held onto, while the other hovered tenderly over her soaked ribcage. Her difficulty was now from bruises and soaked fur rather than the unfamiliarity with her own being from before, and a subsequent cringe of my own masked the immense relief that I'd have jubilantly displayed otherwise.

In sync, we both turned to face Volcanion just as his vindictive roar filled the air with his fury. He had been disoriented by my attack, but it had not appeared to hurt him much.

He began closing the distance between us again in barbarian fashion, raising his cannons just as Leah and I forked out to flank him from either side. Immediately recognizing our prior strategy, Volcanion halted in place and changed his own. At an automatic clip, he extended his cannons out in our respective directions and began firing water pulses at an automatic clip.

He was doing little more than spraying and praying and yet the strategy still thoroughly complicated my advance. I found myself locked into an unending dance to avoid being hit. Avoiding his storm with all kinds of slithers and ploys amounted to little at first, as his efforts to protect his flank and maintain distance perfectly matched mine to do the opposite.

I momentarily considered backing off and trying something different, but Leah's successful interference with his plans abruptly changed my mind. Her body might not have been built for the same speed as mine, but her aggression alone was enough to pressure his aim away from me and provide a small window.

As Volcanion turned to look for me a second too late, I had already closed the distance, snaking straight into his blind spot and uppercutting his jaw with my forehead. Stunned, he stumbled to the side and right into Leah's wand, which introduced the other side of his head to a point-blank rapture of psychic force.

Volcanion roared a barbaric roar as his skull was throttled. I withdrew my vines with intentions to expand upon his whiplash, but in his panic he managed to launch a flame burst at the ground that scattered torrents of fire in all directions. I barely slithered out of the bulk of the attack's range in time, but was not quick enough to avoid a couple of the blazing shrapnels sent my direction.

I cried out in agony. I felt a pair of piercing stings both in the general area of my tail. In an effort to circumvent a follow-up attack, I hurled a blind gust of leaves in the enemy's direction for good measure before retreating for a moment to gather my bearings.

Leah's struggle with Volcanion filled the air with strained, mutual grunts, and with the violent hurricane that fired at variance made when canceling each other out. Slithering right back into an elliptical pattern to find another angle to strike, I turned and saw she had never needed to retreat at all. Volcanion, after trying to shield another psychic attack with his forearm, attempted to bludgeon her head in by throwing haymakers with his cannons. The first, she ducked under; the second, sidestepped; during the third, which was aimed high, she found an opening and retaliated with a blast from her wand that sent him reeling.

"Just _die_ , you prick!" she screamed.

Again Volcanion retaliated out of panic, now by wildly firing water pulses. I managed to cut down a pair of them that were in my way while I advanced to cut off his retreat, but Leah was not so successful. She spurred forward with a snarl of fury, but in her haste could not block one of the water pulses. She was her in the chest and her battle quickly turned into a yelp of pain.

I rushed the stumbling Volcanion in her stead, but something was wrong. Something had come undone inside me, leading me to freeze in place instead. My vines were now extended from my neck and poised to strike again, but they refused to shoot forward and instead simply stalled against my command. Then, guided along by an uncanny innuendo I didn't recognize nor question, I jabbed them straight into the earth below and penetrated the muddy soil. Only for a moment did the softness of the mud register before all surface sensation was cast aside in the wake of something else.

Time seemed to slow down, although I felt no sense of imminent death accompany it. Unnatural vibrations reverberated throughout my body from my vines, which had ingrained themselves deeper now and had begun to shake. I tried to draw in a large breath, but my neck had locked in place. In the blink of an eye, my body felt a mile away again. The divide between my scales and the surrounding world seemed to disappear as I became vividly aware of every root and sediment on the mountain. It was as though my two vines had multiplied into twenty, or perhaps thirty, all bristling to be unsheathed.

So, in what felt like the most natural of motions, I unsheathed them.

In an instant, the level stretch of land between Volcanion and I no longer existed. The earth split and cracked and sputtered in several places, introducing the air to chunks of discharged sediment and the bedlam of granite screeching against granite. In the midst of the chaos, Volcanion scrambled to his feet in recovery from my previous attack only to stumble once more from this new one. It was then that I realized it wasn't my vines that were shaking, but the ground itself.

No sooner had it all started before the product of this destruction penetrated the air: a spiked, olive-colored root twice as thick as my own diameter and extending infinitely as long. The violent outburst destroyed the landscaping within ten meters of its entrance and cast out an earth-shattering screech as it fought to squeeze out further—

Oh, and another! Another root of astronomical proportions crashed above the surface right next to Volcanion, bewitching him a small retreat to avoid the equally-astronomical thorns lining its stalk. But another vine identical to the first two would cut him off, penetrating the air to fortify a wide triangle of skyscrapers. With his angle of escape stripped from him, Volcanion hesitated to make any further movements.

The eruption was so sudden and tempestuous that it took a passing moment of awe to realize that I was not another part of the audience. I was the _director_ of the chaos.

Volcanion spent less time questioning it than I did, and his grunt of expanding frustration reminded me that there was still a fight to be won. A jet of his white-hot fire had already collided with one of the sky-scraping plants by the time they ascended as far as they would go, serving as a follow-up reminder that was just as painful as it was effective. One of my vines—my _real_ vines—spasmed for a moment at the influx of mild heat despite there being no flames in my general area.

Pain. Excruciating pain that I had not expected from my position a safe distance away. The sensation of burning cells was vague and distant but still not pleasant by any stretch of the imagination. The impulse to draw back became irresistible, yet conceding to it surprisingly did not lead me to move from my spot rooted in the ground. Instead, my reaction translated to something elsewhere: the huge vine targeted by the attack completed the motion for me by shifting sharply to the side and out harm's way.

As one might swat frantically at a pest landing on their shoulder, I blindly swatted downward at the lingering burn. Just as the victimized vine had, the other two acted on this intuition and cut down on a flat-footed Volcanion, who tried and failed to stop their descent with a pair of hydro pumps that glanced off uselessly.

The crash that followed rattled my eardrums even from the distance I observed from. Each and every individual thorn tingled as they pierced his flesh, jarring my spine as though I were biting into him with my own teeth. He was crushed under the weight of the spikes, and a desperate vertical struggle commenced when he tried to push back with as much vigor as his weakened legs would allow.

Volcanion bellowed out now in his broken voice, this time in palpable agony. But I could only dig in further, push down harder. Crack bones, cut flesh.

Swinging the injured vine into the mess only took a moment and was a done deed in the same instant I thought it into existence. For the third time I felt the satisfying sensation of his defenses failing.

My breathing had already grown heavy from strain, but it could not overpower my prerogative to incapacitate him to the fullest extent I could. The image arose of Leah and I in our prior forms, broken and dying, and then dead but suddenly alive again. The thought was fuel: now I coiled the massive vines around the bastard, gripping him like a lifeline. He would have no allies to hold close, no air to breathe!

With one instinctual command, the vines rose from the ground. Volcanion rose with them, for they had coiled around him far too tightly for him to slip away. As the ascent commenced, I caught various glimpses through the greenery of what the enormous thistles had already done. One of his cannons hung on with half the flesh it had before, and anything that wasn't already crimson had been glossed with blood.

His struggles amplified vigorously upon leaving the ground. He tried breathing fire and forcing the vines apart, but could not even gather oxygen to sufficiently breathe from how tightly I squeezed. I continued to test the limits of my extrinsic powers by gradually lifting him higher and higher, and before long his flails of distress had slowed to a dejected halt once he had risen a good twenty meters in the air.

It was there that I halted the ascent. Now he was finally immobilized to where I could look him over properly, or at least the parts of him that were visible through the ample coils.

"Give me _answers_ you… you demonic fire hydrant!" With every breath a chore, I was forced to shout between them. "Tell me what's going on!"

His eyes peered through an opening among the thorns and thistles, boring right into mine. My mental release on his prison loosened up just enough to allow him enough air to breathe, yet even when I did, and even when he heaved out a tiny, raw mouthful of thistles that had found their way past his jagged lips, he showed no initiative to answer.

I tried to put on a fierce face, a look that I couldn't even properly visualize given how new my evolution was. I tried to look intimidating with my shoulder-vines still stuck in the turf and my underbelly turned brown from the mud.

 _"Tell me!"_ I echoed. "Why am I a Pokemon?! Why are you doing this?!" A desolate voice crack betrayed my attempt at intimidation. "Just leave us _alone_!"

To the wind my screams flew. They did not echo, for there remained hardly any of the fog from before to them them back. Only silence, only unbearable and deafening silence hung once my pleas had been punctuated. It was a stalemate; I was so desperate to spot the slightest stir from him, just the smallest hint that he'd even heard me, that I had to remind myself to breathe.

Our stares remained locked, but something was off. All of his malice was directed through irises that focused on nothing in particular: a blind stare. A breath caught in my throat. Our gazes had surely aligned, but I realized he wasn't really looking at me at all. The dead stare, the broken voice, the withered shell that had lost its crimson gleam—this was the same body that had confronted Leah and I only days prior, but was no longer wielded by the same host.

Leah entered my peripheral vision. In my trance, I had temporarily forgotten about her; fortunately she didn't seem to notice, nor did she spend more than a fraction of a second gaping at the triad of forestry I had apparently just created. She took careful steps in Volcanion's direction, eventually stopping at my right side a few meters away. She had already extended the end of her wand upwards, the bark on the end sparking. Now, if he tried anything, he would have to worry about more than just strangulation.

On my other side, even further back in my peripherals, were the now-distinguishable forms of Team Carbon, who I had also forgotten about. They had entered the clearing at some point, all-too-likely drawn by the lively commotion through the dying fog. Mincinno approached first, taking the same slow and steady steps Leah had taken. Only he, along with Vulpix and Helioptile who mimicked his steps, seemed to heed us the same wary berth that they gave Volcanion in his imprisonment.

"What in the—" Mincinno blinked a few times and glanced at Volcanion, craning his neck further up than he probably needed as though dumbfounded he had to crane his neck up at all. For the time being, I broke my gaze upwards to catch his eyes traced back to where his teammates had been staring: directly at Leah and I.

Vulpix took a tentative step forward. "...Sage? Leah? Is that… _you_?"

She had barely moved before Mincinno had asserted himself a step in front of her. He held his arm out slightly, cautiously, to prevent her from moving closer. His eyes exclaimed distrust.

Leah saw this and, with her wand still trained in Volcanion's direction, held out her other claw to pacify him. "R-Relax, it really is us!"

The Delphox's mouth hung open for a moment to elaborate on what had happened, but it became clear that she was hardly more enlightened on the subject than anyone else. She and I shared a knowing glance—as in, we both equally knew nothing about what had happened.

Mincinno stared back up at where Volcanion was coiled up, and gawked. "Uh-huh… since when did you evolve and learn frenzy plant, Sage?"

"Just… keep a fair distance," I warned, my throat raw from prior yelling. "The controls on these things are iffy."

An unprecedented screech from above cut me off, and right on cue my new sixth sense spiked. Volcanion had begun to spontaneously struggle amongst his constricts in an apparent attempt to dislodge himself, grunting and sputtering and generating dissonance. Everyone froze and stared for two long seconds in amazement that he was still fighting back, Mincinno's team especially, given this was the first time they'd ever seen him move. Anger boiled up in my ragged throat at the sound of that hated voice; whatever was controlling this legendary Pokemon had gone absolutely insane. It must not have been be used to losing.

Leah tensed up and flinched a bit at the terrible noises, but would not fire a shot unless she was certain she wouldn't hit my vegetation in the process. The grip I held was so tight that she would only need to do so if I dropped him. I grit my teeth; if he was coming down, it would be because I slammed him down myself.

Through his furious clamor, I screamed up at him. "I'll squeeze what we need out of you if I have to!"

And I would do just that: I squeezed harder, curling the vines with intentions to press the biggest of the spikes lining the tendril into his shell. Using the ends of the skyscrapers like digits, I turned them clockwise and strained them as far and as hard as I could get them to go. It was wringing out a wet rag to get out the last of its fluids—the last of his blood, his energy.

Not a single square inch of my body felt as light as it should've, like each of my scales had been replaced with iron plates. Color flew from my vision and simply keeping my eyes open became an obstacle. He was not the only one losing energy; I had to wrap this up, fast.

Fighting back the burning strain, I tensed the tips of each tendril and let up just a bit in my grasp. Carrying him while struggling proved far more taxing than just holding him up, and already an unbearable cramp had begun to form around my collar where my real vines penetrated down into the earth.

"I can't hold him up forever…!" I shot Mincinno's team a strained look and wheezed. "Gah—Get back, I-I'm gonna throw him down!"

Something flashed from within the coils. I didn't catch what it was at first, but the second flash of black was far more pronounced as it seeped out in a gaseous state. His whole body seemed to emit an inky substance that levitated like a gas but roamed unaffected by the wind as it leaked out. The ebony cloud grew into a body of ink until it almost created another layer of coils around my own. It sputtered and bubbled against any feeble attempts of mine to get it off, and continued to grow to higher concentrations while showing no signs of losing its stick.

"Yo, what the hell is that stuff?" Helioptile blurted.

Even if I could've provided an answer, the only sound I could muster was a strained grunt underneath the immense strain that I found myself under just trying to hold my vines firm.

The gas above swirled and seemed to compact itself into the shackles that held in Volcanion, who was no longer visible beneath the cloud that had formed. A mighty, tectonic _crack!_ filled the air, followed by crackling and crinkling and the earsplitting screech of chalk grinding against granite. It was unclear to all of us what was causing such discord, for there were no eruptions from the earth to lay claim to the sound. Thunder without lightning.

What had become clear, on the other hand, was that I was no longer in control. Leah, who had taken my advice and retreated a few steps, shot careful blasts of fire near the shadowy substance, missing most in her efforts to not hit me but applying whatever pressure she could. Mincinno and Vulpix and Helioptile, with less understanding about the plants' mechanics and therefore less care for hitting them through the substance, fired aurora beams and shock waves at will. They all disappeared into the black cloud without any indication of success.

Fighting to throw him down, I yanked Volcanion to the side; suddenly, it became far more difficult to hold him up as most of my leverage was lost. Keeping him in my grasp had simply become too difficult to bear, and after another earsplitting crack from within the gas cloud surrounding the top, I knew I had to let go.

Now driven to panic, I attempted to abandon him entirely by tossing him away, intending that gravity would decide his fate…

…But nothing happened. He was not released from the frenzy plant. There was no response. Not from the roots underground, nor the tendrils above, nor the thorns lining them. Nothing. Like the severed limbs of an amputee laid out in front of them, they could be seen, but could not be moved.

"Sage!" Leah only stood a dozen meters away, but she had to call out over the unnatural noise above to be heard. But I couldn't respond to her, mainly because I couldn't breathe. "Look! It's about t— _Sage_!" Her voice struck a desolate chord in the same moment that I realized something was very wrong.

The cloud of darkness slowly, finally dissipated, revealing the coils just as they had been before. Only, instead of the lush dark-green color I expected to see, they had now assumed the unmistakable color of stone.

I yanked my shoulder-vines out of the dirt so fast that I strained one of them in the act. I immediately began to check them frantically to ensure Volcanion hadn't affected my actual body with his stone sorcery, before an explosive sound above drew my eyes back to him almost immediately. Volcanion—what was left of him—shattered the remains of his once-organic confinement and leapt down amongst a rainfall of cascading pebbles and shards.

One of his cannons hung limply off the side of his body, with only strings of flesh keeping it attached. But neither this nor the holes and indentations in his body that made him appear an entirely different shape would stop him from raising the other cannon and staring me down.

Before either of us could make a move, Leah had already sent a pair of fireballs in his direction. Volcanion made no effort to dodge, and his stance did not stagger an inch when they pounded into his shell. Instead, he continued to look me over. Scrutinizing me. Almost like he was looking for something.

A painful, awkward silence filled the air. For once, I could hear the distant roar of the lake's heart beating against the night sky.

"sO yOU'vE fOrGoTTen oUr sTruGgLe?" the voice creaked. Regardless of how dead Volcanion looked and how weak he must've been, the voice did not change pitch at all. "hOw cONvEniEnT. hOw… aPprOpRiAtE. yOUr dEfiCiEnCiEs aRe tHE rOoTs oF yOUr TriBuLaTiOns aNd sHaLL bE tHe rEaSoN wHy yOU fAiL to CiRcUmvEnT tHiS wOrLd's FaTe."

He took a half-step forward and flexed his one good cannon, as though he felt he could still appear intimidating in the state he was in. I tried to return his stare, but my fierce look from before was gone. Now, it felt like iron weights had been tied to my eyelids and my chin.

"Oi!" Mincinno interrupted. "Why don't you tell us why you're turning Pokemon to stone, you supernatural asshat!"

Volcanion simply ignored him. His fierce gaze remained fastened with mine that I struggled to hold. "tHe eND iS aLrEAdy iN mOTion. MoRe aNd MoRe pOkEmOn WiLL FaLL VicTim tO tHeiR iMpErfEcTiOns, aNd yOU WiLL bE pOweRLeSs tO—"

"I'd appreciate if you answered my compatriot's question."

A breath caught in my throat at the new voice, but was quickly released once sweet recognition kicked in. I turned my head to confirm: there, having approached from behind, stood Ampharos and Mawile.

For the first time since escaping frenzy plant, Volcanion shifting his glare away from me. Turning his neck a few degrees, he scowled as best he could with his gnarled jaw.

"Hello," Ampharos began with a neutral expression. "Judging by your sickly voice and state of being, I'm assuming you are the entity who met these five on the Water Continent. Is that right?"

He stood tall and poised with his arms crossed behind his back and his chin level with the ground. His face did not shift from indifference as he spoke. Even so, nobody missed the undertone of disgust that had manifested in his voice.

Volcanion shifted his one good cannon back to his side while his gaze remained forward and rigid. "SiLeNCe, sMidGen. i aM aMonG eVeRy cOnTinEnT aNd WiThiN eVeRy bEinG."

The demon's eyes sought me out again, continuing before Ampharos could conjure a response. "aNd _yOU_ , fOrGeTfuL vOicE oF _hUmAns_. LAy dOWn yOUr aRmaMeNtS aNd sUBmiT tO tHe iNeViTabLe, oR yOU WiLL eXpeRieNcE mOrE FrUiTLeSs pAiN tHaN yOU cAn pOsSibLy iMaGiNe."

He craned his neck up to the aftermath of the frenzy plant. The three gray tendrils stood permanently erect and inanimate, interwoven and blown apart near the top, thorns turned to precipices. Even the blood that had previously stained sections of the plant had turned to solid.

"tHe iMmOrTaL LeAvEs aRoUnd yOUr mOrTaL nECkS WiLL nOt bE eNOuGh, fOr tHeY dO nOt cHanGe wHo yOU tRuLy aRe. tHEy, tOo, sHaLL pEriSh iN tHe EnD."

He took a trivial step backwards and extended his cannon once more. More black gas materialized out of thin air, creating a perfectly-spherical ball of animated darkness that rested at the end of the appendage and caused every fiber in my body to tense up. I tried to call upon the previous premonition of briars and brambles once more, praying that I could produce some more wizardry before anyone got killed. It was clear I would not be quick enough.

Volcanion arced the cannon high above him, but instead of taking aim forward, he angled it downward in a semicircle to point at the top of his head. Before anyone could object or rush forward, the monster uttered one final scourge.

"mAy NiGhtMaREs pLaGuE yOUr FeEbLe MiNds."

Ampharos's paw shot up. "No, wait—!"

The cannon fired. Black gas consumed Volcanion's entire body almost instantly, swirling and festering in a torrent that coerced everyone to fall back several steps from the ear-piercing sound of mineralizing flesh.

I flinched back. The shrieking, metallic sound alone was unbearable enough to make me squeeze my eyes shut and grit my teeth. It was even worse than before.

Finally, when it was over, I looked up. Volcanion was now nothing more than a statue.

What I saw was exactly what I'd been expecting to see, yet it still did not immediately register that the danger had departed. A leaden breath exited my lungs, and then another, cultivating a rhythm. I hadn't realized how erratically my heart had been beating until it had begun descending toward equilibrium.

Ampharos gripped both paws on the back of his head, then let them drop down to his sides where they sagged. "...Oh," he sighed in disappointment. "I… I'm not sure I caught all of that, but it seems our culprit is and at the same time isn't our defendant here."

I barely heard him. My vision became spotty and unclear; his words were condensed, like he was speaking to me underwater. He must've noticed something was wrong with me, because his gaze immediately grew concerned once he looked back at everyone. The worry outlining his features could just barely be ciphered through the long tunnel I was looking at him through.

I tried to acknowledge him, but dizziness impeded any pursuit of speech. For a brief moment I feared I had been turned to stone somehow, but a sudden, familiar explosion of green before the blackness testified otherwise.

Everything disappeared. All five senses, all coherent thought—all of it vanished. For a moment or longer I was floating above the timeline.

When it finally ended, it was like waking up from a slumber I'd never meant to fall into. I was groggy, and moving anything didn't even feel possible. Even my organs felt out of order, as though they were someone else's.

Voices breached the far reaches of my cognizance after the eternity passed. My senses all returned in a fashion much more uniform than how they'd departed: all in the same instant.

I looked around with blurry eyes. I noticed the yellow feet of Ampharos, and upon raising my neck a bit, saw the matching purple scarves of Team Carbon and caught a glint off of Mawile's glasses. I blinked some of the blur away and looked again: wide eyes and open jaws from all of them. Judging by everyone's general positions were similar to before and how Ampharos was still in motion as he knelt down by my side, I could've only been out for a second or two.

I tried to raise my head further off the ground in an attempt to resume a snake-like pose. The attempt—feeble, at best—got me nowhere, for the proportions were all wrong. I raised a hand to my forehead and cringed at the spots still filling my vision, then froze as my tiny fingers caressed the scales there. There was nothing wrong with the feeling of the scales; rather, a breath caught in my throat that I could touch the bridge of my nose at all.

I rolled onto my back and let my eyes fly down and around my body. It was all there: arms, center-mass… legs! My legs! it was all so different, yet all so familiar. It now made perfect sense why I was being gawked at by everyone. I wanted to laugh the moment it occurred to me because of how obvious it was. I was a Snivy again.

Mawile removed her spectacles, rubbed the lenses with her knuckle, and settled them back on the between her ears in disbelief. Mincinno let his jaw hand halfway open, while Helioptile contorted his mouth into a broad oval.

Vulpix stared forward, failing to force down a chuckle. "What… d-did you both just _lose_ evolutions?"

 _Both?_

With impetus propelled by her question, I rolled over so my nose hit the dirt in the direction Leah had been standing. She was laying on her side right in the same spot I expected to see her. Her underbelly had picked up some clumps of mud with her fall, for she no longer had a dress enveloping her lower body.

Her Fennekin eyes sought out mine just as I sought out hers. Her Fennekin ears twitched. A distinctly Leah-like smile broke across her face.

"Damn," I snorted, smiling as I fingered the cloth around my neck. "Just imagine if we'd had these things in Nectar Meadows."

Leah and I regarded each other for a moment longer, both of us trading mutual stares. Then, in a blissful reciprocation of solace and relief, we both simultaneously lost ourselves to hysterics. Leah doubled over on her back in laughter, then back onto her side, struggling the balance breathing with giggling. I didn't find it any less funny than she did, and laughed more than a sane person probably would—at my own remark, no less.

It didn't matter one bit. We were _alive!_ Just like I'd told Leah by the lake, we were gonna live! After all of that—the fear, the pain, hearing that turbulent voice again—I still couldn't believe it. Even if laughter was just a way for us to bury our nightmares, even if there was a tsunami of things to process, even if we didn't catch the criminal, we were alive.

The five surrounding us lacked context for the joke, but they joined along in our laughter anyhow, albeit in slightly-awkward fashion. Leah, so as to not be rude, turned to head to Vulpix and swallowed the bulk of her levity.

"I… I think we did?" She ran her paws across the curvature her face to ensure it was all as it should be. She lightly pulled at her whiskers, frisked the fur along her ears and shuffled her tail, not at all caring about the mud or the grime. Her paws halted their investigation upon reaching her scarf, where they would remain.

Vulpix extended me a paw that I took with my own. I wobbled a bit as she pulled me up, but found my balance as I always had. My legs worked just fine, just as they had before. I glanced back at my tail; it was stiff as a board and covered in dirt, but the flagrant burns had disappeared. The scarf had, upon changing me back, healed the worst of my wounds.

Leah turned to speak to me, but the floppy ears of Helioptile replaced her in my field of vision. He affectionately slapped the back of my head in what I could only assume was a warm-hearted gesture.

"My guy! You've got some mad hacks or somethin'!" he exclaimed without pausing to breathe.

With no indication of slowing down, he bounded over to one of the mineralized vines and compared his body's proportions to one of the lower spikes. He glanced back with eyes somehow wider than before; the spike was easily just as large as he was. "You think you could teach me how to whip up some of these?"

"I doubt Sage even knows how he did that," Vulpix cut in, rolling her eyes. "What makes you think you could pull this off?"

Their bickering quickly became ambient noise as Mincinno approached. A paw was cupped underneath his chin and his eyes were locked onto the green around my neck, exploring the simplistic striped pattern like a mystery dungeon.

"So…" he began. "I'm assuming you weren't aware these bloody scarves were capable of—" He turned to gape at the mess the fight had created. "—all that?"

I shook my head. My jaw had begun to ache from laughing earlier, so I popped it and acknowledged his question in a candid tone. "No, we had no idea. None at all."

Mawile briefly left Ampharos to investigate Volcanion's remains on his own so she could probe Leah and I. She strode over and took Leah's scarf into her paw while it was still around her neck, staring at it for a few prolonged seconds. Then she did the same for mine.

"These are clearly more than just personal knick-knacks," the researcher commented. The dry, scholarly tone her voice usually carried was eclipsed partially by astonishment. "They could have limitless historical and practical value. I-I absolutely _must_ study them."

"For real!" Helioptile exclaimed, hopping in the middle of the conversation once more. He regarded me with an urgent expression. "Where can I cop one for myself?"

I looked to Leah, who shuffled her front feet. "I… I've had both scarves since I was a baby," she clarified. "So, um… I don't think you can just go out and buy one."

"Alright," Ampharos called from beside Volcanion's statue, cutting off the paparazzi. One arm was crossed around his chest, while his other elbow rested on it to where his paw cupped his chin to create an introspective pose. "I believe I've got it."

Mawile's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Somewhat, yes. But also… well, not really." With a hard frown, the chief ambled over to us before elaborating. "Indeed, Volcanion here possessed the capabilities to turn Pokemon—or any organic matter—to stone. We saw this firsthand."

He began to pace around. "But… we can assume from that display that we have not caught our criminal, for our criminal might not be catchable through empirical means." After pausing to think for a moment, he continued. "Was that discordial voice we just heard the same one you five reported of roughly three weeks ago?"

"Without question," Mincinno answered immediately.

"So then our pursuit is still on," Mawile mused with narrowed eyes. "We aren't under duress from some average criminal here. Something bigger is at play."

"Then we shall continue Project Chisel!" Ampharos declared, striking a pose. He resumed his regular stature quicker than usual once he caught a glimpse of the midnight moon, however, and elaborated, "—tomorrow. We'll get on it tomorrow. Tonight we shall head down to the pines below and set up camp. It isn't healthy to be frolicking at this hour."

"True enough," Mawile replied, producing an escape orb. She handed it to Ampharos with one paw while she pulled out her gadget with the other. "I'll phone the other society members and tell them where to meet us. Hopefully they didn't get too lost in the fog…"

* * *

With one final blow, the last metal stake for the tent was pounded firmly into the dirt.

I stood up and stretched my tender limbs. Despite the escape orb saving our group what would've been a hellish hike down, I was still beyond tired—both physically and mentally. Beyond sluggish. Beyond anchored. Beyond any exertion I'd ever put myself through. No orb or other such commodity could change this axiom of my being at this point in time. It was the middle of the night and I was sore. I couldn't think straight, nor could I recall many instances in which the prospect of sleep was so appealing.

The rest of the Society's tents were scattered around with no particular rhyme or reason to their arrangement. We likely would not have to worry about ferals, for we had made it out of the forest's inner depths to a clearing where the vague indentations of campsites had once existed here, all of them lost to time. Fortunately, it hadn't taken us very long to round everyone up here since most of the Society members had taken a side path that led in a loop around the forest rather than where Fogbound Lake was nestled in the middle. Also fortunately: no other group had any significant run-ins with the demon.

Good, I thought. The last thing we needed was to lose someone because we were spread so thin.

I pushed aside the hanging leather and ducked through the opening. Right away it was impossible to ignore how cramped the space was; the foldable cone-shaped tents Buizel and Bunnelby were assigned to bring necessitated a size limit in order to be feasibly hauled from continent to continent.

Things didn't get any less cramped with Leah taking up nearly an entire side. Her tail alone took up a quarter of the tent. She had pitched her blanket already and sat on her haunches facing away from me, fiddling with one of her wands while nibbling noisily on a tiny piece of bark she'd picked off of it.

She noticed my entrance once I haphazardly tossed my shoulder bag in the middle of our space. She tossed her stick on top the bag and, with visible lethargy, pushed herself up.

"Oh, hey." She looked at me with tired eyes.

I forced down a yawn and gave her a sideways nod. "Hey."

Facing me, she raised her haunches and copiously stretched her forelegs, releasing an unsophisticated feminine grunt. "Ngh… I think I could sleep for a full week after all that."

"You and I both," I sighed. "I'm too tired to even think."

My vines had stiffened up to such a degree that they objected any attempt to move them with an unbearable ache. So, I reached down into my bag with my arms instead to grab the unexceptional sheet that would serve as my blanket. It wasn't a particularly soft garment in my hands, but I already knew it would feel like heaven the moment I collapsed.

Before I could lay down for good, however, something even softer stopped me. Leah trod over and, in a spontaneous act, threw her front paws over my shoulders and squeezed. I almost questioned the nature of her surprise hug, but the warmth that erupted across my body quickly stifled such thoughts. I did what I could to sustain her embrace even though I couldn't return it with much force given the length of my arms and the ache in my vines. For a fleeting moment, everything I carried melted away. She was so soft—softer than the crust and grime lodged between scales and under fur—softer even than the scarf she'd given me.

When she finally let go after some amount of time, I braced sore shoulders for the playful slug she would inevitably deliver. But it never came. Instead, she stepped back, looked me in the eyes, exhaled deeply, and said, "I'm glad you're not dead."

I smiled innocently. "I'm glad I'm not dead too."

 _Then_ she slugged me in the shoulder. The Fennekin narrowed her eyelids to keep amusement out of her irises, but ultimately failed to keep it off of the rest of her face.

"Well, looks like your brain didn't get completely fried after all." She turned her nose up and fell back onto her blanket for presumably the final time. "What a shame."

After blowing out the small torch that Leah had lit outside, I crawled over to where I'd pitched my own blanket and collapsed, wrapping it around me. Some of the warmth from Leah's prolonged hug still lingered, easily warding away the nighttime chill that I had previously chalked up to a nuisance.

Finally, I would get the sleep I needed. Tomorrow I would have to reassess this whole stone situation, that much was certain. But for now, when there was nothing but pitch darkness and warmth all around, I would relish in every second I was allowed to lay down my head undisturbed. Bliss.

It was not long before Leah's heavy voice intercepted me somewhere between reality and dreamland.

"Hm?" I mumbled incoherently. I hadn't quite heard what she said.

"I…" she whispered more clearly this time. "I miss Serene Village."

Now _that_ woke me up. If the position I was in wasn't so perfect, I'd have undoubtedly sat up upon hearing that in order to alleviate the contorted feeling that formed in my gut. I considered her words for a moment. Surely we both missed our old home; she'd told me this before on the Air Continent after all. This was a constant sentiment would probably never change for either of us.

"...So do I," I replied into the darkness. Hoping to prevent the conversation from spiraling further into despondency, I prospectively added, "But hey, we're living the dream, right?"

Leah scoffed loud enough to confirm that my optimistic efforts would fall short. "This isn't what I imagined it would be like."

With a deep exhale, I inquired, "What do you mean?"

"Sage, what I mean is that we literally _died_ up there." Her sharp whisper was amplified by the total darkness around us. "We didn't have a chance in that fight, we…" She paused and huffed. "We shouldn't have even come here in the first place."

With a huff of my own, I propped my head up. "I guess I can't disagree with you there. This was all a bad idea, I know." Even though I was only whispering, I did what I could to project my concern. "Leah, are you feeling okay?"

"Don't get me wrong, it's still surreal working for the Society." Fidgeting like she couldn't find a comfortable position, she rolled over and sighed deeply. "I just… I didn't expect to be this afraid of dying. I've always wanted to grow up and come into my own, and now I'm starting to realize it's harder than I thought it was."

I could tell she was struggling to get the words out, so I remained silent during her confession. Never before had I heard her sound so vulnerable, which wrenched my heart further.

"I'm sorry I keep telling you this. I don't mean to sound like a broken record," Leah mumbled. "It's just… the real reason I miss Serene Village is because it was so... so _easy_. Back then, everything was just a game. I never had to worry this much about…"

She hesitated to continue. The silence that followed had its own weight, permeating the air in our tent and making the circumferential humidity a lot more harder to ignore.

"About what?" I breathed.

"About… you know, losing you, I guess." Leah fumbled her words, making her even harder to understand given the conversation's paltry volume. Regardless, I heard exactly what she said.

I inhaled to speak, but my throat was choked up. I tried to rack my brain for the right thing to say, for some formula that would alleviate Leah's inhibitions. But words wouldn't do it. Regardless of existential circumstances, we were adults now. We had adult problems and adult friends and adult capabilities. This wasn't Serene Village anymore. This was the world.

I swallowed and gathered the impetus to speak.

"I told you we were gonna live, didn't I?" I whispered. "Well… I _meant_ it. I don't want either of us die either, and I'm—" I paused to think for a moment. Choosing my words was vital. "I'm… afraid too. I'm afraid that someone I care about is going to get killed by that demon."

I continued in an even deeper whisper. "So, that's why we have to stop it. We have to stop it so that we can live without this stupid fear. I…" My heart felt heavy in my chest, and every syllable felt despondent. I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. "I can't… I'm not gonna be able to figure this out without you, Leah."

"I know…" she sighed, alleviating some of the fear in my gut. Perhaps I'd said something helpful after all.

Several seconds of silence passed before Leah followed up with what sounded like forced amusement. "I know. I just… I needed to get that off my chest because I can't process everything that's happened today and I'm really scared and I'm not as strong as I thought I was. And… i-it's all pretty dumb. Sorry."

"Don't be," I interjected. "We need to communicate like this so we can understand each other." Then, in another offhanded attempt to lighten the mood, I slyly added, "...however hard to understand you may be sometimes."

What sounded like a scowl, a sigh, and a giggle sounded past her heavy heart in a single noise. She reached over to grab her branch so she could jovially swing at me across the small gap separating us in the darkness.

"Same can be said for you, my fellow delinquent," she retorted.

A chuckle of my own tried to escape my throat, but it was muffled by an even bulkier yawn. I was already teetering on the edge of unconsciousness.

"Fair enough, twig-eater," I whispered to some coherent degree. "Let's get some sleep already."

With a final sigh to lift the remaining weight off of her chest, Leah turned back over and settled down for good. "Mm… By the way," she yawned. "You looked pretty slick as a Suh—Serp…" She paused.

"Serperior," I finished for her.

"Good thing you paid attention in anatomy class," she hummed. "That's one thing about Serene Village I _don't_ miss."

Her final whispers hung in the air and faded. My mind pulled towards the waking realm where there was plenty to process and mull over, but my body was pulling me the opposite direction and winning the struggle with ease. These thoughts of mine would not out-prioritize sleep any more than they already had, that much was certain. Circumstances aside, we had dueled a legendary Pokemon.

We deserved this period of rest. Every second of it.

The lull of Leah's stable breathing was all that I could hear. Each exhale looped in a timeless span before everything was cast into dreamlike insignificance.


	33. Not Tomorrow Yet

Chapter 33 - Not Tomorrow Yet

"The moon has been a-rising, and the stars in golden guising, adorn the heavens bright~"

Not much had changed about the open landscape besides the arbitrary winds that blew in from the north. With them drifted Ampharos's chipper tune, carried back to serve as an ambient concert for conversations and thoughts conceived from boredom. The chief's singing was no more proficient than his ability to navigate, but the benefits of the breeze meant it hardly mattered. Nobody was arguing that the chilling effect was a blessing beneath the unrelenting sun. It cooled the sweat on the bridge of my nose and ever-so-slightly made the journey home more bearable.

In retrospection of that morning, it occurred to me just how difficult it had been for my body to adapt to the time zone shift. It had been bad enough for my sleep, worse than I'd anticipated. It then occurred to me that I was probably just dead tired to begin with, but for the sake of self-esteem I chalked it up to something that was out of my control. It hadn't really mattered much when dawn rolled around, since either way I'd have slept for a week if given the opportunity.

Other than waking with heavy legs and a lingering disbelief for the events that had transpired at Fogbound Lake, not much of my morning had been executed out of routine. In robotic fashion, Leah and I had laid half-awake until Mawile called everyone to attention, ate our idea of a traveler's breakfast after the chief's debriefing, and then began the day as our minds finally overpowered the pleas of our bodies to lie back down.

More often than not, beginning the day meant taking on missions or dealing with a pressing issue back in Lively Town, where one could walk outside and, if they felt like it, could complete a day's worth of work in volunteering alone. Today, however, pushing forward meant we had to return home. We had to walk… and walk, and walk some more. One foot in front of the other. Our goal was reaching the coast near Sky Peak, where hopefully the crew of the ship we'd hitched a ride on had kept their end of the bargain and waited for us.

The path was level and the surrounding environment provided more than enough scenery to ward away the worst forms of boredom, but even these things hardly mattered after hours of doing the same thing. Sometimes, I found that traveling between locations was the entire appeal of a journey. This was not one of them. Homesickness and fatigue overtook the excitement and fulfillment of completing mission, and a dampened mood had settled over the group. It didn't help that completing this mission had hardly brought any excitement or fulfillment to begin with.

I supposed it was a good sign that Leah had been ready to tackle the day from the moment she'd forced herself out of bed. Whether it was from our talk, from the night's sleep, or just from Leah being Leah, she had carried herself with contagious energy that gradually got me up and going too. And while most of it had faded now that hours of walking had passed, I owed her whatever incentive I had to move… as well as to answer the barrage of questions that an undeterred Helioptile lobbed my way.

"Bruh, where did you say you got this dope scarf again?" As I walked, Helioptile scuttled around me in order to view my neck from every angle possible, at one point pushing my tail out of the way so he could see it from directly behind. "You got them from that Serenity Village place, was it? Damn, you think you could take me there so I can get one too? You'll totally do that for me, right?"

Overwhelmed, I shot a pleading glance in Leah's direction. To my dismay, she never saw it. She was too busy fending off an equally-curious Vulpix, who was set on scraping every last detail out of her involving what it had been like to walk on two legs.

Fortunately, Mincinno happened to notice my dilemma and made sure to give his teammate's ear a stern tug to open me up a little breathing room.

With a small, grateful smile sent the normal-type's way, I turned to Helioptile and shook my head. "Sorry, but I don't know where you'd find any more of these. I…" I noticed I'd been fingering the cloth subconsciously, and I could not help but run my eyes over the sharp and mild greens that composed its design. "…To be honest, I still don't know what they're made of."

Mincinno scratched the fur under his chin and sighed. "I dunno if I'll ever understand what I witnessed up on that lake, and I'd be lyin' if I said I didn't care to have that kind of power for myself. It's a shame we don't have more of these life-savers." Without missing a beat, his concern evaporated with a hearty shrug. "It just is what it is, I suppose."

"What matters is that it was enough to beat the creature at Fogbound Lake," a new voice—Mawile's—cut in from behind. I cast my eyes back to her, but she'd already paced forward to match my stride. Her eyes did not meet mine; instead they settled on my neck. "What you're wearing is clearly more than your average tissue. It's not unheard of for certain apparel to provide useful buffs in the wild, but nothing on this scale has ever even been considered, let alone documented."

Even as we walked, she did not hesitate to stick her nose only a few inches from the contents of my neck, adjusting her spectacles to further investigate whatever mysteries might be hidden in the unwrinkled garment. A bit unnerved by her unbridled display of interest, I slowed my pace just enough to put me a full stride behind her. She adjusted by simply turning to walk backwards while never removing her eyes from my neck.

"Uh, I guess that's good, then," I replied. "This thing did save us when…"

I shot another glance over at my partner. Vulpix had gotten momentarily distracted by Buizel and Comfey, allowing Leah a minute of peace. Her head hung a few degrees and bobbed up and down as she walked. She only half-concentrated on the road before her and was otherwise lost within the confines of a somber daydream.

"…when we were about to die."

For the first time since approaching, Mawile looked me straight in the eyes, allowing me a good look at the bags that had built up underneath her own. "Sage, what exactly happened to you before the chief and I arrived?"

"We… Well, we fought Volcanion. And we lost."

I frowned. Everything had happened less than a day ago, but the events leading up to my transformation had become a blur. When I attempted to recall specific details, all that came to mind was a complicated pudding of misfortunes in no particular order, none of which I knew had been particularly pleasant to experience nor were pleasant to reminisce over now. Surreal. That's what it had been. Even now, it all felt surreal.

Suddenly self-conscious of how I'd trailed off, I swallowed my misgivings and gave the best answer I could.

"The scarves started glowing, and then Leah and I evolved. I don't know how long it took or what caused it, but it happened when we were moments from being killed… or—or maybe we _were_ killed for a moment there. I don't know."

The night before, Mawile's reaction to witnessing the scarves in action had been a clash between heavy concern and unquenchable intrigue. The answer I gave now brought both of these reactions back, with more of the latter being displayed in the way her eyebrows ticked upwards.

As she fell back into stride beside me, she resumed her prior activity of boring holes into my scarf with her eyes.

"That's… not good," she sighed. "Obviously, that's not good. I'm sorry the chief and I led you two into that. No matter your age or your role in the Society, it's our job to keep you safe. You should've never been in that position."

Our forward march maintained the same rhythm it had for hours. The conversation, on the other hand, ground to a halt after that. The way Mawile paused afterward—or perhaps it was my adamance not to respond—left her apology suspended in the air indefinitely.

I hadn't thought much about the nature of the mission so far, and for good reason. There had been plenty of adversity, plenty of fear—that much I had expected going into this. Hell, I could've expected those things going into any mission with stakes like these. But…

I glanced back in the direction we'd come from. Fogbound Lake had shrunk substantially in the wake of our exit; it was now barely distinguishable among the other hills and elevations in the visible landscape. Even without the fog having fully re-concealed it, the plateau would've been impossible to distinguish if not for its unique shape. Had we really walked this far already? It amazed me how benevolent it looked, as if it were just another mountain lining the horizon. As if nothing worth remembering had happened there. As if we hadn't been led right into a fight we couldn't have possibly won without a saving grace that we didn't even know we had. As if Project Chisel's first excursion had been worth the risk of attempting.

The silence between Mawile and I doubled in weight.

If she noticed the displeasure I failed to hide, or cared, she didn't show it. Instead, she took up a prospective tone so she could express what she'd been aiming to bring up in the first place.

"All that aside… we have learned something vital on this trip," she said. When I still didn't answer, she ignored the resulting pause and continued. "We've learned that our culprit is not the average serial killer, and I think it's safe to say we've learned that greater forces are at work than some volcanic rock formations."

I raised my eyebrows. Mawile's proposal about the… what had it been? Igneous rock formations being the key to uncovering the mystery, or something? That theory had been wrong, or at the very least didn't come close to telling the whole story. Not when this ghost of a culprit knew more about myself than I did, and not when it knew we were coming to Fogbound Lake before we arrived.

Mawile's elaboration echoed my thoughts. "That thing _knew_ you were once a human, Sage. That thing knew where we were going and when we were coming, and I wouldn't be surprised if it even knew why. I'm… gonna have my hands full when we get back, as you can probably imagine. I've already thought up a couple of theories about what could be going on, although right now I've decided to regard mostly everything with a grain of salt." She adjusted her glasses and let out a sound between a sigh and a huff. "…I hate doing research when things are this _vague._ "

"Mm." My eyebrows still remained raised as I stared at the road before me. _Try being me, lady,_ I thought. _Vague is all I've ever known._

I believed her about wanting to keep Leah and I safe. Her apology for leading us headfirst into a brawl with a legendary Pokemon seemed sincere enough. But that wasn't enough to settle the pit of fear that had manifested in my gut as I reflected over the trauma I'd been subjected to. The issue wasn't a physical one; virtually all traces of my injuries were gone, erased forever by my scarf. More than once, my subconscious found itself juggled around the idea that perhaps it was all just a dream.

But no, it definitely hadn't been a dream, and I definitely hadn't recovered from it. At least, not mentally.

I couldn't shake the undeniable truth that we'd been tasked with a suicide mission. The way I saw it, it was simple. If we were going to get out of this mess alive, there was no room for error, especially regarding something as vital as personnel decisions. Splitting up to save time, for one, had been a horrible idea with equally-horrible results. And even then, what kind of army would've been needed to take down Volcanion? Had it not been for the Harmony Scarves—wild-card factors that nobody even knew of until they were needed—then what kind of walk back to the shore would this be? Would it be the mournful march of a group leaving behind those who didn't make it? Would I have been one of the fallen?

That wasn't even a question. Of course I would've.

As I sought him out with my eyes, I became audibly aware of Ampharos's singing abilities (or lack thereof) once more. He was literally skipping as he walked—not with the same enthusiasm he might boast on any less-exhausting trip, but with enough to question if he was truly capable of worrying about anything that wasn't two feet in front of him.

A smile formed on my face, but it was entirely without joy. It was the type of amused smile born from a depressing joke, and it swiftly disappeared when the very thought made me realize just how much confidence I was losing in the Society. The damage wasn't irreparable, but it was enough to ruin my mood and consider myself disgruntled. I just hoped the esteem Leah held them in would hold up, and the feeling would pass.

A fit of animated teeth gnashing from the jaws of a visibly-impatient Mawile stripped me of my thoughts. She held her gadget out and tinkered with the screen while using the jaws on her head to shade herself from the sun's glare. When it failed to work for a minute, she muttered curses under her breath.

Finally, her face lit up as the device found the signal she was looking for. With the static hum that followed came a familiar, steely voice.

"Ma…wile?" Jirachi's voice filtered through the speaker, sounding like a broken-up version of his usual self.

"Jirachi?" Mawile answered immediately. "…Hello? Why'd you call?"

It sounded like Jirachi tried to speak again, but this time it was impossible to tell what he was saying. His words fizzled out and became incoherent in the midst of an increasing amount of interference. Several more seconds passed with the expectation that the enigmatic disturbance would come to an end. All that remained, however, was a low-pitched static.

"Jirachi? Are you there?" Mawile called again, to no avail.

"Maybe the signal is bad?" I mused. "It was usually like this for Leah and I back on the Water Continent. Jirachi could be having the same issues we did."

The historian wiped the sweat off of her own forehead and rubbed her chin. "…Perhaps that could be it. Although, the radio signal isn't supposed to consistently be this bad for him, especially not in the middle of Lively Town where all the radio towers are." She shook her head. Her second set of jaws gnashed a couple more times to personify her impatience further. "I'll have Dedenne talk to the folks in charge of it when we get back. Those minimum-wage government workers need to get their heads out of their—"

Another fit of static from the gadget interrupted her. Jirachi's voice sounded off once again, struggling to maintain some degree of understandability. Mawile gripped the gadget and held it closer.

"Ca… o… ear… me? M… wile? Mawile!"

"Affirmative, Jirachi, I hear you."

"…Oh, thank the stars! I've been trying to call you all friggin' morning! Those minimum-wage electric-types need to get their… agh, that's not important right now." The voice filtering through the speaker was still riddled with background static, but it was at least now coherent enough to make out. However, by no means did it sound normal; with each syllable was an unnerving weight of desperation that was unlike the lackadaisical, sleepy attitude that Jirachi typically wore on his sleeve. "Listen, there's something _far_ more urgent than cellular speeds that needs to be addressed. Like, _now_."

Most of the other Society members had picked up on the ruckus and had fallen in line around us. Ampharos abandoned his march and tune upon realizing there was something more interesting going on than the open road before him, and fell back a dozen paces so that he could listen in. Leah glanced back at me as her ears perked up, and trod over to my side to hear as well.

"Go on," Mawile urged, leaning her face closer to the gadget.

"While you were gone… how do I put this." Jirachi's voice broke up a bit, but I wasn't sure whether it was the connection or just hesitation on his part. "…there was a terrorist threat made to Lively Town."

Nobody said a word. Barring a couple of muffled sighs from Mincinno and Archen, nobody even breathed loud enough to be heard. Several of the Society members appeared shocked to an extent, but the general group reaction seemed to be one of mere inconvenience or annoyance. I was no exception; after all that had happened to us, some terrorist threat might as well be deemed trivial.

 _Just wait until we tell you what happened to us._

But Jirachi wasn't done. "The threat was a written note… well, a bunch of notes actually. They were presumably scattered around Lively Town sometime in the middle of the night, intended for Pokemon going to work early the next morning to find." His voice was momentarily replaced by the sound of crumpling paper. "Lemme see here… most of the threat is gibberish and I'm not going to bother reading it over the radio, but what's important is that it closes by saying 'those who struggle against the hearts of darkness will be turned to stone'."

If Jirachi didn't have our attention before, he did now. A collective gasp rang through the group, and faces pressed closer together to crowd around Mawile, who gripped the gadget firm. For the time being, the march along the road had ceased entirely.

"Because of the nature of the threat in tandem with all of the Pokemon dying, the government is sending two high-profile teams from the northern ports to investigate," Jirachi continued. "I think they've finally decided to start treating this like a serial killing."

"Hmm. Good," Ampharos mused. "We could use all the help we can get."

"That's not all…" Jirachi began again. "Th… re was som…"

His voice broke up once more, reverting back to nonsensical static.

"Agh, again? Are you kidding me?" Mawile groaned. She held the gadget up as high as her stubby arms would allow, twisting and turning it at a myriad of different angles in the slim hope one of them would catch a fleeting radio wave. After a full minute of this passed, including one instance in which she nearly dropped it, she finally gave up. Putting the unresponsive device back in her bag with a prolonged sigh, she folded her arms and tried to distract herself with putting one foot in front of the other.

Ampharos placed his paw on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. Just bad timing," he attempted to reassure her, although he looked no less rattled himself. "If we must, we can inquire about it when we return."

With his eyes hardened and his mouth set in a line, he added, "…which means we should probably get back as quickly as our feet can carry us."

* * *

"Pleasure doin' business, ye wankers!"

With one final glance at the sack of money Mawile had handed him before undocking, the one-eyed Ambipom captain strutted back onto the deck of his ship where he began barking barely-coherent orders at his crew.

Three days traveling back across the sea had little more to offer than our previous journey, which unfortunately meant it was no less boring. Everyone knew that any attempt to re-contact Jirachi was hopeless, for the archaic radio towers on the Grass Continent and the slightly-less archaic towers on the Water Continent could not extend but a few miles into open waters.

Thus, I'd spent the bulk of the boat ride entertaining myself with my own thoughts, running back through the events of the journey and then running back through the events of my short life. Then I'd retrace my steps back to the present day once I eventually hit that unconditional wall in my memories, and then do it again. Only rarely would I allow myself to mentally exit the past and probe into the future, as unclear as it was.

Leah had done the same, or so I couldn't help but assume. She would frequently occupy herself with the sound of her own twig-chewing within the condensed storage closet that served as our quarters. When her jaws got sore, she'd bury her head in her paws and think about whatever it was she thought about. She had been as resistant to moving as her stomach was to the ocean's cradle, but where could she have even moved? There had been little for her and I to do but work and rest anyway, since horseplay had been adamantly outlawed by the captain after Bunnelby accidentally sent Buizel through a wall in the first hour. The energy we'd woken up with outside of Foggy Forest had, ironically, been exhausted by the act of doing literally nothing worthy of interest.

However, by no means had this lackadaisical mood been exclusive to us. Whenever I would visit the deck to grab something to eat, not a single Society member moved at the brisk pace that they might otherwise consider an organization-wide trademark. I supposed that if our greatest enemy wasn't death, then it was surely boredom. And with that realization had come the realization that I loathed sailing.

Things would finally, finally pick up when the lookout—a skinny Tyrogue with a high-pitched voice—declared from his perch that he'd spotted land. Everyone rushed to the front of the boat, craning necks to see over one another and then cheering when they eventually caught their first glimpse of the port. I didn't cheer; I lacked the impetus to do so. But I did sigh a deep, relieved sigh upon seeing the colors and shapes of Lively Town gradually materialize.

All I could do after stepping foot onto the moist wooden planks was take it all in. We'd only been gone a week, that much I knew, yet a month or two surely had to have passed. Progressive fatigue naturally played a part in this, and perhaps even a bit of my own growth that took place in such a small span of time. But, as I had stepped off the boat to inhale the salty breeze and take it all in just like many times before, I concluded that it was actually the _town's_ growth that made it feel like so much time had passed. The construction on the southern side of the peninsula had remained one of Lively Town's consistencies since I'd first laid eyes on it from afar, and long journeys allowed me to appreciate how the city limits were noticeably manifesting over time.

I glanced anywhere from the dormant ports bordering the civilization's edge to the bustling beaches that began where the docks ended. I glanced to the west, down towards the roads that led to the main square with a little bit of walking involved. Pokemon moved around us at differing speeds to run their errands, most of them paying little mind to the ship that had just docked or to those of us who had disembarked from its higher deck. The occasional pedestrian would recognize us and wave, but most seemed adamantly focused on their own business and moving along without any interaction. More so than usual, actually, and with what seemed almost like urgency.

At first glance, everything was still no more or less lively than I remembered, but I could not help but feel that the atmosphere had shifted a bit. Jirachi's report of a terrorist threat came to mind, but it seemed hard to believe that it would have such an effect after three whole days.

Did something happen?

Leah and Vulpix stepped up to either side of me as I stared on. Their gazes followed mine across the bulwarks of the eastern port and down to the southern structures that were actively being worked on by a number of unidentifiable Pokemon. Leah rotated a shard of wood with her tongue and made no other sound while Vulpix hummed.

Vulpix lifted a paw and ran it through the fluff on her head. She wore an uncharacteristic grimace as it came back damp with sweat. "Good grief, it's hot today!"

Leah looked like she was about to tease her friend for being an ice-type, but she seemed to conclude that her own typing wasn't helping her much either.

"Whew… are Lively Town summers typically like this?" the Fennekin asked nobody in particular. She tried to fan herself with a paw, but abruptly stopped when the humidity only seemed to make it worse. "Serene Village has gotten hot enough in the past to make some of the water and grass-type villagers complain, but it never got bad enough to make _me_ uncomfortable. Certainly not like this."

Vulpix blew a rush of cold misty air out of her nose, although it did little to cool the surrounding area. She shook her head at her hopeless attempt and exhaled deeply. "I dunno, but it's never been this icky since I've lived here… Ha-aah, let's just head towards the headquarters already. The sooner we find out about this government stuff, the sooner we can get the big fans out of the storage closet and cool ourselves down. We all deserve a long nap, especially you two."

"You know…" I began. "It was also unusually hot on the Grass Continent. Have they been experiencing a drought too?"

I decided to take Vulpix's suggestion and begin making my way towards the Society building.

Vulpix just shrugged again as she began to follow. "I sure hope not. I've got some family over there that hate anything to do with the outdoors."

"And… remember the Air Continent?" Leah added. "There was a drought going on there too when we first arrived, which was almost—what, like a month ago now?" A moment of silence passed in which she glanced up at the sky and followed the clouds with her eyes. "I might've never been too engaged when we took geography, but I think I learned enough to know that this shouldn't be normal."

"I remember the Sand Continent being this bad, but that's normal over there," Vulpix said. "I want to chalk all of this up to climate change, but… if this is what climate change is really like, then I don't want to live on this planet anymore."

As we walked at a lackluster pace, I noticed the rest of the Society had already made it a fair ways across the docks. I tapped on a daydreaming Leah's shoulder and pointed it out, to which she immediately darted past me to catch up. Vulpix and I shared a quick glance of admiration for her energy, and then jogged to catch up with her. In our efforts to keep up with her (begrudgingly for a very sweaty Vulpix), we ended up passing most of the Society members, whom none of which seemed to be enjoying the humidity either. Up the stairs and past the first stores on main street we jogged, occasionally tossing out an apology in a random direction when one of us would bump another Pokemon unintentionally.

As I ran and continued to re-familiarize myself with the town, the ominous feeling returned that something more significant than the passage of time had affected something. Nothing had changed structurally, but I already knew it wasn't that. Not all of the old smells drifted through the air, making the salty ocean winds clog up my nose quicker. The sounds of commerce were a fraction of what they usually were. There were less people out in general.

Perturbed, I began observing the present townsfolk as I passed them. A Golduck marched across the street casting a glance behind him every few seconds; a Lampent closed up shop in the middle of what was supposed to be rush hour; a mother Pyroar briskly made her way to a branching road with her cub in her mouth, sacrificing the quality of her baby's ride for extra footspeed. As I made my way past Sylveon's bakery, which was normally a marquee commodity at this time of day, the absence of its trademark aroma was just as demoralizing as the 'closed' sign glowing through the window. There was no mistaking it. The change in atmosphere wasn't just my imagination…

Surely it had to be the heat.

For that very reason, I was more than pleased when our dash through town finally came to an end. The sweaty pair of Vulpix and I would eventually catch up to an equally-sweaty Leah, although certainly not because the Fennekin would ever consider slowing down unless she had to. We dodged the last few pedestrians in our way to finally reach her, where she stood before a wall of crowded townsfolk that at first glance appeared to be several layers deep. By now the boardwalk was well at our backs, as was most of the east side of Lively Town and all of its commodities. Right in front of us was where the town square was supposed to be, but we currently could not see it over the crowd that blocked our way.

"What in the world is going on?" Vulpix lamented, barely audible above the hundreds of other voices mumbling and grumbling about whatever was holding them up. To hear each other better, the three of us formed a huddle and stuck our heads close. "The square is never backed up with traffic like this. Like, _ever_."

"I wonder… maybe someone collapsed from the heat?" Leah suggested.

Vulpix thought about it for a split second before shaking her head. "No, even if that happened, the whole square wouldn't just get blocked off like this… Ugh, I don't want to circle all the way around to the other side of town just for that side of the square to likely be blocked too. Do we just wait?"

I tried to peer over and get a look, but to no avail. Even when I tried to ask some of the surrounding Pokemon in the back, those who bothered to respond were just as confused as I was. All I gathered were rumblings about a 'crime scene', but that hardly helped.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mincinno make his way up to us, along with Helioptile and Bunnelby who trailed a bit behind. The normal-type took one good look at the wall of Pokemon and whistled.

"Something must be going on, or must've happened recently," he speculated. "The police never hold up Pokemon like this on a regular day."

"Darn. I sure hope nobody's had a heat stroke," Bunnelby winced.

"It's not unlikely, I'm afraid," a new voice—Buizel's—commented. With him approached the remainder of the party that had traveled overseas, most of which sported surprised looks of their own at the unusual crowd of Pokemon blocking the entrance to the square.

Mawile walked up and crossed her arms. "Well, this is new."

I ran through ideas in my head, but the crowd of impatient Pokemon was too daunting to just force my way through in a manner that didn't involve unnecessary violence. It was difficult not to feel self-conscious of my own lack of innovation, especially that, in light of previous events, this dilemma bordered on trivial. Of course, not that anyone else was jumping forward with suggestions.

I was a drop of sweat away from suggesting we find another route when Leah's eyes lit up.

"I've got it!" she blurted. Leah shrugged off her bag and brushed her tail across my shoulder. "Wrap me up with your vines and lift me above the crowd."

My initial reaction was to narrow my eyes. As though expecting my wariness, she already had an elaboration prepared on the tip of her tongue.

"Hey, it may not solve the problem, but knowing what's going on will make a huge difference."

"It's not that," I scratched the back of my head. "It's just… I've never really _lifted_ anyone before. I don't want to drop you."

"Oh, well…" Her ears flattened a little. "I mean, I trust you. You won't have to lift me very—"

"MOVE!"

I jumped out of my scales at the explosion of sound somewhere at my back, although I knew perfectly well who had wielded the hyper voice that nearly knocked me to the ground. Fighting to regain my balance, I whirled around to witness the majority of the crowd—now completely silent—facing a very heated Swirlix.

"You're blocking me from my pastries you treasonous delinquents! We're on official ~ _burp_ ~ business here!"

Many of the Pokemon in the way regarded her with some degree of displeasure, but any prospect of challenging her advance died as soon as she mentioned food. It was no secret in Lively Town that the Expedition Society's chef could be a force if given the right motivation, with her motor being her stomach. Thus, a path was immediately cleared wide enough for our group to file through one-by-one.

"Ooh, that was easy!" With her nose held high and her tongue dangling out of her mouth, Swirlix hopped her way through towards the square.

Coddling one of his still-ringing ears, Ampharos waved the rest of us after her. Everyone began to file through the crowd, with me ending up towards the back of the line. As I got closer, I caught a glimpse of those ahead of me and saw that everyone had to hop over some sort of barrier. The police tape strung across the front explained its purpose, but only left up to speculation why it was there or what it was blocking out—or in.

Eventually it was Leah's turn, who bounded over without issue. Then it was my turn; as I walked up, the barrier slanted up to just above my nose, tall enough to block my view but short enough to be hurdled without the need to use my vines. After wiping my hands off on my bag, I reached up, gripped the top of the barrier, and shoved myself over.

Right away, as I scaled the tiny wall, I saw it. In the midst of a chaotic scene, it was impossible to miss.

In the middle of the square stood two life-sized, stone-cold statues of Pokemon.

"You've got to be kidding me," I hissed under my breath.

Everything happening around the victims told the rest of the story. The scene was a mess, with Magnemite hovering around and flashing their police lights, occasionally buzzing at those in the restless crowd who could see over the barricade. Crime tape was strewn all over the place, tangled up among various equipment that either belonged to the police force or the handful of Pokemon—local detectives, I assumed—that were there. The only thing about the scene that wasn't animated were the bodily remains of what had caused it in the first place.

Most of the Society was stunned. Brionne covered her eyes while Buizel placed an arm around her, looking just as stunned. Bunnelby appeared to be light-headed. Even Swirlix's confrontational demeanor reverted to wide-eyed silence. Hands and paws were placed behind heads and covered open mouths. Gasps and curses were muffled. I supposed it made sense; most of the Society hadn't witnessed one of these crimes in person before today, so their reaction was hardly different than mine had been. For better or for worse, the shock factor had mostly been exhausted for me by this point, but the sight in front of me was still repulsive enough to avert my eyes.

Leah's reaction was to stare down at her paws and purse her lips. With a shake of her head, she muttered, "Why here…?"

I spared a glance up. Even at the moderate distance I stood at, the Pokemon who'd been turned to stone didn't strike me as familiar. One of them stood on two legs with clinchers for hands and the build of an arthropod, while the other stood tall on four legs and had slim zig-zag formations across its body that vaguely resembled lightning bolts.

Mincinno rubbed his chin, analyzing the scene for what it was worth at face value. "That's a… huh. I'm pretty sure the one on the right is a Scizor. The other one's got to be a Zebstrika. I've seen one of 'em before."

"I remember you had some kinda beef with a Zebstrika that stole food from us in a dungeon," Helioptile followed up, before tilting his neck a bit and scratching the dome on his head. "But, hold up, that was on a different continent… Are these two species even native?"

"Pokemon can always travel here like I did," Vulpix replied. "Although, I've never even seen a Scizor before. I wonder where these two poor souls were from." She sighed deeply; her disdain for the heat seemed to be all but forgotten now. "I hope their families are doing alright…"

I tuned them out. Despite my earlier attempts to look away, they had been futile. All I could focus on now was the two stone Pokemon.

The way they stood so still made the smallest details of their bodies stand out more, emphasized by their host becoming literal exhibits to be viewed. The absence of color, absence of essence, absence of _life_ separated them from the pebbles and slabs of the square despite being reduced to a state of matter that wasn't fundamentally any different. Even more uncanny was how their facial expressions didn't express fear or dread or resignation. Instead, they looked like they weren't even given an opportunity to react. Boom, dead. That's what it must've been like.

Somewhere in my peripheral vision I saw Ampharos firmly engaged in conversation with the town's chief of police—a Magnezone that, despite having a face made of metal, still managed to pull off looking sleep-deprived. Mawile had a notepad out and was taking notes, glancing up at the statues every so often and shaking her head. Jirachi had made an appearance at some point too, and after talking briefly with Mawile, began to float his way over to us. He waved as he approached and I waved back.

"Team Prism, Team Carbon," Jirachi greeted. "Well… damn. I bet this isn't the first thing you wanted to see when you got back."

"Ya think?" Mincinno snorted. Then, in a more serious tone, he added, "Do you know anything about what happened? The 'who's and the 'when's?"

Jirachi bobbed his head from side to side as if he was juggling his answers. "Hrm… not entirely. But that's why I'm out here. I'll explain what I know after we get everyone situated back at HQ." He then turned his attention to me and Leah with a brighter look on his face. "—and you two, curiously enough, have a couple of guests."

I quirked my eyebrows. _Guests?_

Leah echoed my thoughts. "We've got guests?"

Jirachi just shrugged. "Yeah. A couple of Pokemon came in from the west looking specifically for you two. They got here last night and seemed to know you personally, so I decided to let them use a couple of the empty rooms instead of casting them out to find some pricey hotel. I told them you'd get back around this time today, so they should still be there." He looked back towards the building in the distance, where a few of the Society members had already begun walking towards. "I'm gonna help the chief as much as I can out here, so you two can head over to HQ if you want. You look like you could use some rest anyway."

Leah and I shared a glance. Without a doubt, our assumptions were identical: Pokemon from Serene Village might've come looking for us. I'd become so caught up in my work with the Expedition Society that I had totally forgotten the threat of a search party! Not that Leah and I were criminals, nor that we were legally bound to anyone. Right?

No. I shook my head. No, that would be ridiculous. Anyone who tried to drag us off somewhere else would have something else coming.

With this principle in mind, Leah and I began to skirt across the edge of the crime scene, dodging the occasional Magnemite. We kept walking until we were out of the square and on the sloped path leading to the headquarters.

As the breadth between the distant building and I began to shorten, my mind picked up speed. Never mind what our guests wanted; what about the _who?_ It had been a month—no, a month and a half—since Leah and I joined the Expedition Society. In hindsight, the hike through the Sheer Mountains had been treacherous one, and could easily have spelled disaster for any villagers who tried to chase our trail unprepared. Nevertheless, I wasn't willing to bet that the village didn't possess the assets to put a single search party across the range in a timely manner, especially when Nuzleaf made various trips to Lively Town anyway. Maybe… maybe it was him? I was anxious to see him and, if nothing else, apologize for abandoning his home in the way I had. Maybe I couldn't apologize to everyone, but at least I could apologize to him or whoever else it was that came to visit.

Driven down the cobblestone path by curiosity, Leah and I made our way towards the headquarters at a brisk clip. It did not take long for familiar landmarks of the path to surface, and soon the majority of the building was visible over the benign slope that the road took upwards. Not a word was shared between the two of us when the intensity of our thoughts would stifle any conversation, and when the distance to cover to the headquarters was dwindling by the second. I could already see the windows on the second floor. Before I knew it, the rest of the building had rendered completely.

A bated breath caught in my throat when I first saw who was waiting outside. His stature was what I identified him for first, with the smaller details of his stocky build serving as the evidence needed to recognize him in full. He stood right in front of the door, facing perpendicular to Leah and I and appearing to stare at nothing in particular.

 _No way… It is him!_

Leah was already bounding forward. "Nuzleaf! It's—it's you!"

Without a thought, I was all but riding Leah's tail in an effort to keep up. Nuzleaf turned around at the sound of her voice, but he only had a moment to react before we were upon him.

"My goodness, there you are young Sage!" Nuzleaf cheered. "You look— _oof!"_

Leah crashed into him and wrapped him in a hug, stealing the air from his lungs and reduced his greeting to a chuckling wheeze. "Wh-Why I reckon I couldn't f-forget about you too, Leah."

Not to be left out, I ignored the ache in my vines and wrapped around him from another angle. Partly resting my chin on his shoulder, I whispered, "It's so good to see you again…"

"It's good to see you too, kiddo…"

There, standing out in the sun, we shared the sweatiest, most drawn-out group hug imaginable. I pressed my nose further into his shoulder and hugged him and Leah in tighter. Seeing Nuzleaf and hearing his voice did not compare to this embrace that reanimated every dormant memory of his hospitality. For a moment, it was like I'd never left.

All things had to come to an end. Nuzleaf broke off first, looking a tad exasperated from having two bodies practically leaning into him. Despite that, the body heat shared among us in that exchange seemed to bother none. Leah and I stood at attention before him while he looked us over from head-to-toe.

"Why, y'all look… y'all look like entirely new Pokemon! All—" he gestured at us with his arms and beamed. "—All geared up and official!" Then, he leaned forward an inch closer to inspect my arms and Leah's legs. "Is it just me, or have y'all been working out?"

"You could say that," I chuckled. With a wayward glance back towards the square, I added, "There's always way too much work to do here."

Leah nodded and smiled wide. "One way or another, it's been a blast so far!"

"Well I'm mighty glad to hear that. I admit, I really, really underestimated y'all," Nuzleaf said, placing his hands on his hips. The pride on his face was gone as soon as it appeared, replaced with a flush of concern. "…Though, I reckon I really did worry a whole bunch about y'all. I knew in my heart that I couldn't stop you from travelin' the country chasin' your dreams, but a father figure's still gonna do some worryin' anyhow."

My heart dropped. Of course, there it was. The inescapable guilt, the opportunity cost of the pivotal decision I'd made. Each encounter with my faceless, intangible, demonic enemy since leaving had convinced me further and further that it had been the right choice, almost enough to convince me that abandoning what could've been a home wasn't worthy of keeping me up at night. Almost.

Leah was staring rather intensely at a particular pebble on the sidewalk; her excitement had also vanished like ice on the sizzling sidewalk, or had at least been suspended from thoughts of home. I could imagine the volumes Nuzleaf's comment about worrying had spoken to her. I had not been the only one who left a father figure against their direct instruction.

"I do hope y'all have been careful with these stone incidents goin' around," Nuzleaf continued, seemingly unaware of the guilt poking around inside of me like a thousand needles. "I-I caught a peek of what happened earlier this mornin' in the center of town. Have you two kiddos… or, I reckon I shouldn't call you that anymore… have you two _explorers_ been tasked with trackin' down the perpetrator?"

As Nuzleaf glanced towards the square, I noticed just how desatured the leaf on his head had become. It had wilted at a downward angle so extreme that it had become an undesirable compliment to the illusive bags that had formed under his eyes. At first glance he looked fine, but when I squinted it looked like he hadn't slept in a week. Keenly aware of the heat and its effects on both of us, I waved him towards the front door and held it open.

"We can all explain ourselves to each other in just a moment," I answered as I made my way inside. "For now, let's just get out of the sun."

"Never thought I'd see the day where I'd prefer the indoors…" Leah said as she allowed the first rush of cooler indoor air to gently settle over her. No traces of guilt lingered in her voice; a good sign.

"I swear, I've never had to work so hard travelin' across the range before. I was sweatin' buckets!" As Nuzleaf took his stepped inside, he relished in the indoors in the same fashion Leah did. He fanned himself for a moment to get all he could out of the limited comfort the first-story air provided, not caring one bit that it was only a few degrees cooler here than it was outside.

As soon as I entered, I scanned the assembly room for Dedenne in the hopes that she'd be able to fill us in on some of the details of what was going on. It was no secret that we'd missed plenty in the past week, and impatience had already begun to gnaw at the back of my mind to find out anything I could. Unfortunately, the communication expert was nowhere to be found in the immediate room. I did an extra circle around the room out of respect for how easy it was to overlook the rodent's petite form, but concluded that she was simply not in the room.

"It's coldest on the second floor room since we regulate the temperature to keep the Nexus from overheating," Leah told Nuzleaf. With the swagger of a tour guide, she held her nose up a few degrees higher than usual and smiled proudly. "We _usually_ don't let guests up there, but since you're technically family then we can make an exception."

Nuzleaf wiped his face and, unable to conceal his amusement, chuckled at her antics. "Sounds mighty fine to me."

"Your turn to unpack, Smugleaf," Leah said. "In the meantime, I'll go and update the Nexus."

As anxious as I was to catch up with Nuzleaf, it was not enough to argue the rotation of chores established between Leah and I. It had been my idea, after all, to rotate tasks when preparing for and completing a mission. With an affirmative nod in her direction and a grateful nod received back, she shrugged off her shoulder bag and tossed it my way. After withdrawing a twig from her knapsack to occupy her gums, she zipped it up halfway and tossed it as well. I strained to catch both with my arms and, after securing them along with my own baggage, turned toward the residence hallway.

The quiet of the building was particularly conspicuous as I set foot into a hall void of activity. Even the uproar a few blocks away was not enough to penetrate the walls and meddle with the silence inside. This was a relaxing contrast from the usual chaos, even if I knew it only to be temporary. It was no vacuum, but for once I could actually hear my own footsteps.

If not for the sunlight peeking through curtains and doorways, I'd have thought it to be nighttime. Returning dead tired from an inland mission around noon was unheard of, especially when I considered just how pronounced this exhaustion was. For an extended moment, the prospect of sleep—or even lying down in my bed and relishing in the act of doing nothing—was nothing short of tantalizing. I hadn't gotten a good night's rest since the last time I set foot in this building, and even then I always had a fairly strict schedule to follow that showed night owls no mercy. After dealing with the heat, the stress, and the physical fatigue that came with the long distances and with curling up on a cramped boat for days at a time, I was about due to collapse.

As I sought out the entrance to my room, I shook my head. _I'll have plenty of time to collapse into my bed later,_ I reprimanded myself. _There's still daylight left and I still need to find out what happened while I was away._

There it was. Third room to the right. I approached and felt the genesis of a yawn in my throat. Adjusting the bags to keep my weight balanced, I parted the curtain with my arms and prepared to slide Leah's bags over to the far wall.

I took a single step inside and froze.

It took my brain a moment to register that someone else was in the room, and a heart-stopping moment longer to recognize who it was. But despite that she sat at the desk on the far wall appearing to be focused on the collection of maps scattered there, I knew my entrance was no secret. The loudness of the yawn I was unable to withhold was enough to be certain. Although, not like that really made a difference. She'd probably sensed me the moment I stepped foot in the hallway anyway.

I thought I tried to say something, but I couldn't exactly remember how. In an instant, the weight on my shoulders was nothing in comparison to the weight in my chest. I'd daydreamed about this moment in my head a hundred times—what I'd say, how it would go—but I suddenly found myself a prisoner of nerves, unable to do anything but stare uselessly at the back of her head.

 _Uhhh… what do I say? What do I—_

"Did you forget I could read your thoughts?"

Her voice startled me so much that I dropped Leah's bag of twigs, spilling a dozen of them onto the floorboards.

Espurr scooted her seat out and rotated it enough so that she could turn towards me. She looked me over for the first time in weeks. Although I didn't show it, I immediately became self-aware of how I probably looked: sweaty, confounded, and on the verge of keeling over from exhaustion.

I had to live with how I looked, for now, and focus on who was in front of me. Finally able to see Espurr's face, I returned her stare as best I could. The dimensions of her eyes had always been her defining trait in the time I'd known her. They always had a certain magnetism to them, impossible to break from. Now, I could barely bring myself to meet them.

"Oh. Um, n-no, I didn't forget." I cleared my throat. "You just surprised me, that's all. H-How've you been?"

Espurr opened her mouth like she was going to speak, then closed it for a moment before opening back up to reply. "…I've been doing good. How about you?"

"Same. Just been really busy with… uh, explorer stuff, I guess."

Espurr nodded once and distracted herself with the textures on the wall. "That's good."

Awkward silence. Painful silence. The walls seemed to close in on me from all angles, pressuring me to say something. This was my room, I was the one who left her, the spotlight was on me to take the initiative in this conversation. That's what friends did, right? Make conversation. Espurr and I were definitely friends.

Right?

Maybe I could pry for details about her journey, or offer her a tour or perhaps some food. Maybe I could ask how the other school kids were doing or inquire further on how she was doing. Maybe I could apologize for ditching her and thank her for coming all the way over here after the fact. Try to explain myself further than the vague nonsense that I'd dropped on her way back when. Ask if anyone back home hated me. Ask if _she_ hated me.

Instead, I blurted, "Did you trim your fur?"

I never envisioned myself asking such a question until it was already done. Espurr raised her eyebrows at me, less from the nature of the question and more from its suspect timing. "…Really? That's what you want to know?"

"…"

Like a guilty child caught stealing, I really didn't have anything to say. Once that became clear, Espurr ran her paw through a strand of fur on her chest and nodded slowly, all while maintaining eye contact. "Mhm… I did trim it. It had gotten so hot that I couldn't sleep comfortably… I'm glad you noticed."

Keeping my composure was physically painful while still inwardly recoiling from the stupidity of my initial question, and I afforded myself a mental slap. What a dumb thing to ask! In light of this, I provided the most neutral answer I could. "Ah. Well, it suits you."

"Thanks."

The ambiance of the silent building returned, but I was beginning to think it wasn't such a nice contrast from the usual noise after all. The only person I could ever recall apologizing to for anything significant was Leah, and in those situations I always found myself receiving an apology in turn. Now it was just me. Even if this betrayal was mundane on the surface, even if I hadn't said anything or done anything malicious, it hardly made a difference. It was the invisible monster in the room that neither of us wanted to acknowledge.

Now, at the worst time, I was coming to terms that apologizing was not my skill. Holding a conversation with awkward circumstances apparently wasn't either, especially when even granting Espurr the liberty of an eye-to-eye exchange pushed the limit of my willpower. A horrible feeling of transgression spread across me like an ocean, and my efforts to remain stoic began to feel more pointless by the second.

Espurr broke eye-contact. Something on the ground caught her eye—Leah's twigs, scattered across the floorboards.

"How's Leah? I just barely heard her voice from down the hall." Her eyes traced from the twigs to me and then to the doorway. I wasn't sure if my imagination was playing tricks on me, but I could've sworn the diminutive tension in her voice had eased up a little bit, if it was ever there in the first place. Yet it hardly did anything to dispel the tension that had my nerves under lock and key.

"Oh. You know, she's been—"

"Hey Sage!" Leah barked from down the hall. "What's taking so long?"

I could hear her footsteps approaching at a rapid pace, making my own footsteps prior sound feathery in comparison. I sidestepped out from in front of the doorway to avoid being run over when she inevitably barged in.

"Nuzleaf wants to catch up with y—" Leah cast aside the doorway curtain and instantly stopped in her tracks.

"Hi Leah. You look well." Espurr put up a paw in greeting and wore the tiniest hint of a smile. Part of me wanted to lighten up at the sight of Espurr finally giving some ground on her stoicism, but the impasse of not being the one to bring it out of her made me feel even worse than before.

"E-Espurr! You're here too!" In contrast, Leah's smile was anything but tiny, as was the impetus she vaulted forward to hug her old classmate. Thankfully, Espurr had the mind to take a step back and better absorb the ball of fur leaping to embrace her.

"E-Easy there! I'm happy to see you again too!" Espurr chastised, but only half-sternly.

Leah gave the feline's shoulders a tight, affectionate squeeze, then released her and retreated back my way. She twitched her ears at the spilled bag of her snacks and huffed. "Aren't you usually the one who says we shouldn't leave our stuff scattered across the floor? You're lucky I'm not picky about these twigs, Smugleaf, because you got 'em all dusty."

"Oh… my bad," I said with a shrug. The twigs were the absolute last thing on my mind right now. I hadn't forgotten that Nuzleaf was still waiting upstairs, and that there was still plenty to discuss with him. If anything, that would be my avenue to escape this thorny scene. "…Say, we should probably head upstairs."

Leah twitched her ears in agreement. "Jirachi already came back, and the rest should be returning right about now. I think the chief wants to get everyone caught up with each other in just a few minutes."

She picked up the last of her twigs and tossed them back into her bag, which I held open. Right on cue, footsteps filled the hallway outside followed by familiar, sluggish voices. The sounds of curtains parting and baggage being discarded with varying levels of care finally ended the quietude.

"Sorry Espurr, we'd love to catch up with you, but there's been…" Leah glanced between us and searched for the right words. "…an emergency, I guess you could call it, and our chief wants to address that before anything else."

I rubbed the back of my head. "You… can come with us and meet everyone if you'd like."

It was more of a request than an offer. Espurr regarded me for a moment and hummed to herself. Copious thoughts of rejection immediately flushed through my head, and I began to wonder if inviting her to a room with so many Pokemon would be too overwhelming. She may have been the last Pokemon I'd call insecure, but it wasn't like she grew up accustomed to a populated environment like this. Not to mention I had a pretty good feeling that the meeting wouldn't be the merriest time for introductions.

The way Espurr strolled up to stand before Leah and I was enough to assert that the awkwardness was mostly long gone. "I'd love to. Thank you." She looked no less stoic than usual, but the undeniable interest in her tone dismissed most of my doubts.

"Awesome!" Leah beamed. "Let's head up there quickly then, I wanna be towards the front!"

The Fennekin was true to her own word by vanishing out the doorway before I had an opportunity to speak. Not that I would have disagreed; a similar fire burned within me to learn what Project Chisel's next steps would be.

I held the curtain open for Espurr. "Ladies first."

All she granted me was a wordless nod. Without a word of my own, I followed suit. As we began to walk down the hall, she hesitated for a moment so I could take the lead. My footsteps were far less pronounced with the onslaught of ambient conversation and other such noise, which I utilized to cover up a prolonged sigh.

Okay, so maybe the awkwardness wasn't entirely gone after all. There was no one to really blame but myself, though, since I'd probably be hurt too if I got left behind like that. I understood why I wasn't her favorite person in the world at the moment… not that this understanding made me feel much better about it. Solace came in knowing that the burn would surely wane at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later. It had to, it just needed a little time. For Arceus' sake, this wasn't the right time to be worrying about this anyway.

As I'd crossed into the main lobby and began to climb the broad steps, my speculations refocused on the task at hand. So much had happened in only the past half-hour that I hardly had a sliver of time to process it all, and it wasn't even over yet. My nameless enemy was truly proving itself to be omnipresent, turning Pokemon to stone practically on my front porch while I was halfway across the world.

One particular hypothesis wouldn't leave my subconscious alone. Perhaps… perhaps there were multiple of them? Not that I knew what "them" even constituted as, of course. But surely it was still a thought to keep around, especially since there wasn't much I knew about the heart of this crisis to begin with. Volcanion had once been an enemy of the crisis, after all, and yet had been corrupted (or infested?) and turned against his old cause. Perhaps we were dealing with a virus?

It was a miracle I didn't walk into anything given how deep I'd been rooted in my own head. My legs had carried me up the stairs and weaved me through the half-filled crowd of Society members, all the way to Leah's side. She sat patiently at the front a few feet from where Nuzleaf stood, and flicked her tail in greeting when I strolled up. Espurr placed herself on my other side, inconspicuously eyeing the other Pokemon in the room.

Ampharos, Mawile, and Jirachi were discussing something by the Nexus, but my attention was transfixed by the two unfamiliar Pokemon standing towards the back of the room. One of them was a Vaporeon, the other a Simisage, both recognizable by their prominence in certain dungeons I'd been to prior. But these two Pokemon were obviously not ferals; both donned large bags and badges that dismissed any doubts about whether they belonged in the room. Still, their gear did not deter the gathering Society members from casting curious, sidelong glances their way. It seemed no one else recognized them either.

After what felt like ages, Ampharos concluded his discussion with Mawile and Jirachi before taking his place in front of everyone, gadget in hand, similar to the morning announcements typically conducted downstairs. He kept squinting at the crowd, unwilling to begin until he was absolutely certain everyone was present. When it became painfully clear that nobody was missing, Mawile nudged him in the ribs to start.

"Oh—I see. Everyone is here. Excellent." Ampharos leaned back to set his gadget down on the circular table surrounding the Nexus.

Then he placed his arms behind his back, scanned the crowd and cleared his throat. "Comrades! As we've all become aware, this has been a confusing morning. There is a lot to cover, including what happened on the Grass Continent as well as on this one in the past seven days. So, we're going to get everyone up to speed in chronological order, starting with what happened here.

"Firstly, though, I'd like to introduce you all to some fellow partakers in putting an end to the stone crimes. The reason they are here will become clear in just a moment."

Ampharos nodded at the two new Pokemon, who stepped forward together. The Simisage eyed the crowd and cleared his throat.

"Greetings," he said. "My name is Agent Naismith Simisage, and this—" he gestured to his companion. "—is Agent Brooke Vaporeon. We are Team Genesis, representing the Water Continent Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, and we are visiting to investigate a terroristic threat made against the city of Lively Town roughly three days ago."

I furrowed my brow. They had names they used in public? It made enough sense given that their profession likely relied on having the proper credentials and identification. Still, it sounded so odd not referring to them automatically by their species name. Perhaps it was just a custom where they were from?

Archen softly whispered to someone behind me, "I thought there were two teams coming…?"

I could just barely hear the flightless bird from a couple rows up, but somehow the Vaporeon heard him too.

"Two teams _did_ come," she hissed, piercing into him with an iron stare. The way she spoke brought about a tension that made the scene back in my room not feel so bad in comparison.

Jirachi levitated forward to mediate. "That's—yeah. That's what I was gonna get around to mentioning." He cleared his throat and faced the crowd. "Two top tier rescue teams were assigned to come down here on an investigation, but… um, unfortunately, one of those teams happened to consist of… the victims in the square."

 _Oh._

A pin drop could be heard. Neither Naismith nor Brooke looked higher than the front row's feet now, both locked into a respectful, hardened silence. The rest of us didn't speak for the same reason, if the shock alone wasn't already enough. Jirachi's choice of past tense struck the chord hardest, and even harbored an insignificant spark of dissatisfaction within me. We were supposed to be the ones looking for ways to return these victims back to normal, and that required assuming they weren't already dead.

"…I was able to get my hands on a police report," Jirachi spoke up. He produced a handful of stapled papers and began to flip through them. When he found a page that suited his needs, he began to read off of it. "While scouting around town, Agents Zaire Scizor and Crystal Zebstrika of Team Patriot were presumably ambushed from behind sometime before dawn this morning. They were first discovered by Kangaskhan who had woken up early to open her cafe. Nobody else has reportedly been harmed, and there are no known witnesses. Umm…" Jirachi flipped through a couple more pages. "…Oh, and there was a warning letter pinned to the Scizor's head."

The shock factor that came with all these details had worn off for the two remaining agents. The sunrays that pried through the windows and declared it was long past dawn were a symbol of that. Even still, the solemn looks in their eyes made them appear no less shaken up despite having had hours to soak this in. Anyhow, the Simisage found it in himself to speak up again. "Yes… But this letter was different from the ones three days ago, wasn't it?"

"Yes indeed," Jirachi said. The letter in question was already in his hand. "It says here that—goodness, this handwriting sucks." He squinted at the words and read them slowly. "Alright, it reads 'There is no place in the world you can hide. Not in the heart of the city or the corners of the country. You will all become stone soon. If you wish to struggle against the inevitable rather than submit defeat, come to the summit of Showdown Mountain and prove why you should live.' And… that's all it says."

The lack of a specified threat made no difference in how forcefully my heart fell. I hadn't even touched down on this continent but under an hour ago and already we were being beckoned to the top of some mountain for the same reason we left a week ago. Like this was some wild game of chase! It took a fair amount of my self control not to groan loud enough to interrupt, if not scream instead.

"So…" Bunnelby began. "We've got a location, which is a step in the right direction. It's probably a trap, but—"

"It's _absolutely_ a trap," the Vaporeon icily cut him off. "There's no question about it."

"I'm sure the perpetrator believes they've got the upper-hand… which is why we're going to go and investigate it ourselves," the Simisage declared. Any trace of his prior mourning had vanished; filling the void was an authoritative tone that screamed strictly business. "Showdown Mountain is roughly a day's journey from here. Therefore, my partner and I will travel there on foot and scale the mountain. If this enemy is there like they claim to be in this cowardly letter, we will apprehend them and bring them into custody."

With an agreeing nod, Ampharos went to shake the Simisage's hand. "We appreciate your assistance. In that case, we can rest up today and prepare to leave tomorrow morning."

Naismith simply stared into the chief's eyes with his own narrowed. "Did you say 'we'…?"

Ampharos parted his lips for a moment before nodding again. "…Why, of course. We tend to work toge—"

"I believe there's been a misunderstanding," Naismith cut him off. "I appreciate you providing us with the evidence you gathered from the crime scene, but make no mistake. There is no 'we' in this equation. My partner and I traveled from the capital of the continent to complete an investigation, not to meddle around with the local law enforcement. We were specifically recommended not to involve the Expedition Society at all. The only reason we are here is because you possess valuable evidence."

Ampharos's arm never moved, indefinitely suspended in one-half of a handshake. Even when it became clear the other hand would never join his, he still held it out and stared blankly at the grass-type. "Are you dead serious, or…?"

"Uh, did he sound like he was joking?" Brooke snorted. "Look, we'll cut to the chase. We already know about your little excursion to the Grass Continent. We know you people somehow got ahold of private government records in order to conduct such an aimless mission. You should count your blessings that you haven't already been arrested for that." The Vaporeon stood as tall as she could to emphasize the badge on her chest. "Why don't you people stick to your geography lessons and leave the detective work to us? We have lives to save."

The tension in the air was now an unnerving harbinger to violence, but I hardly had the mind to mediate things when my blood had begun to boil so hot. Were these clowns serious? Nothing could justify such arrogance, prestigious rank or fallen colleagues be damned. They had never faced the power of this enemy in battle. _I_ had, _they_ hadn't. My fists clenched tighter; if only these two knew what we'd encountered on the Grass Continent, they wouldn't be so keen to handle it like they were running errands on the weekend.

"With all due respect, I don't think you realize what you're getting into," I hissed. "Volcanion was possessed by this enemy—whatever it is—and nearly killed several of us."

I was instantly conscious of Espurr's and Nuzleaf's stares boring into my skull. I tried not to think about the copious explanation I owed them by telling myself this wasn't the time, which wasn't exactly a lie anyway. I was already well caught up in something else.

Naismith regarded me with intrigue for a moment, then raised his eyebrows to the ceiling in amusement. "…Really, eh? Because the Grass Continent officials who investigated the scene reported that Volcanion was found turned to stone—a _victim_ of mass murder, not the murderer himself."

"Th-That's because he turned himself to stone! Several of us saw it happen!" Mawile snapped. She looked like she'd about reached her boiling point all the same.

The tension in the room seemed to hardly affect the infuriating pair of government agents. Brooke even seemed to think it was funny.

"We refuse to believe that," she stated bluntly. "It defies all common sense and isn't supported by any evidence gathered by the officials. This is precisely why investigating is _our_ profession and not—"

"Alright everyone, let's relax for a moment. This is discussable," Ampharos intervened. He stood between Team Genesis and the crowd now, sternly glancing between both.

Naismith was already shaking his head. He grabbed the warning letter and police report off the table and tossed them in his bag. "I'm afraid it isn't discussable at all, Ampharos of the Expedition Society. Your group has often been described as high-end law enforcement around here, yet our companions were killed practically on your front porch while you were off using the Bureau's records to conduct an illegal mission. If you feel the need to discuss this, then I'd start with your lawyer."

"Hey, we kinda need that police report!" Jirachi called out to Naismith, who had begun to walk towards the stairway.

"Consider it confiscated."

As he continued to make his way around the crowd, Naismith reached back into his bag and produced a black, plated device that in some respects resembled the gadget in my own bag. He impatiently tapped on the screen a few times, then tossed it back into his bag.

"As per the investigation, authorized by the Water Continent Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, I have placed a federal embargo on Showdown Mountain."

When nobody reacted, the Simisage turned around and rolled his eyes. "…Which _means_ that until the investigation is concluded, anyone caught traveling or taking missions there will be arrested and tried for tampering. Only my team and the aerial reconnaissance I've requested are authorized in that area until I decide otherwise. Have I made myself clear?"

Mawile dropped the canteen she'd been drinking from and spit out some of the water in her mouth. _"What?!"_

Now there was a reaction from the crowd, and I was no exception. The same urge I once felt so often to slap Pancham in the face—something I thought I'd outgrown—resurfaced in the depths of my shoulders where my vines lay dormant. A puff of smoke redirected my attention for a moment; Leah had to bite her cheek in restraint to not produce an all-out beam of fire instead. I took sight of the anxiety on Espurr's and Nuzleaf's faces, and felt a pang of sympathy in the midst of the adrenaline-fueled anger that burned through my veins.

Ampharos held his arms behind his back and said nothing, although the disdain in his eyes was impossible to hide. Jirachi's jaw hung open in speechless disbelief. Swirlix nearly choked on whatever it was she was chewing on, and for once her eyes grew the size of dinner plates for a reason other than food. Dedenne's voice hit an unprecedented pitch as she angrily squeaked her frustrations over the noisy crowd. Mincinno looked about ready exhaust his wide repertoire of curse words, if not surpass talking entirely by allowing his physical attributes to speak for him. Fortunately his teammates had the mind to position themselves between him and the government agents, although the looks on their faces told me they were no less upset than he was.

"Oy! Like hell we can't go there!" Mincinno protested. "Who says we can't?"

Brooke only snickered as she made her way after her partner, who had already down the stairs. She tapped the badge on her chest one last time and shook her head. " _We_ say. And we mean it. This isn't some child's game, so it would be in your best interest to stop playing hero."

"Better question—" Buizel sneered as he took two steps forward. "—who's gonna stop us?"

Brooke eyed him up and down and scowled. "The police, dumbass. You think you're above the law because you draw maps? Think again."

"Brooke!" Naismith called from the bottom of the stairs. "Quit wasting time with them!"

A condescending glare was enough of a parting shot for the Vaporeon. She spun around and stepped her way down the stairs after her teammate, thrashing her tail in front of Buizel a couple times as she went. He had to take a deep breath not to strike her outright, and I released a deep breath of my own when he didn't.

The distant creak of the downstairs doors opening and closing echoed up the stairwell and off the walls for a few seconds, and then everything fell to silence. For the following minute, the low hum of the Nexus dominated the room.

I wasn't breathing heavily or anything, but after all of that I felt like I should've been. I had barely even known anything about a 'government', and now we were being told we legally weren't allowed to travel to a dungeon. I supposed all it would come down to was waiting to see if those two pricks were up to the task. If they succeeded, then everyone would win. And if they failed— _when_ they failed—then at least we'd have an avenue to move forward and investigate further.

Between the two, I had no clear preference.

Everyone was surely having similar thoughts, but nobody was jumping to speak their minds. Instead, uneasiness had completely hushed the room, covering it like a blanket. Only a washed up display of Leah's agitation remained on her face, but the way the fur on the back of her neck pointed towards the ceiling told me all I needed to know about how she felt. Espurr and Nuzleaf, on the other hand, were struck speechless by the simple fact that they didn't know what the hell was going on. I had to restrain myself from breaking the silence with a groan; this mess was not a good first impression of the Expedition Society.

It would be Archen who broke the silence instead. "Did that… just happen?" he said while rubbing the top of his head.

"Do they even have the power to do that on this continent?" Vulpix whispered.

Mawile shook her head, her gaze transfixed on some geometric point on the wall. "As much as I hate those political pricks from the north… yes, they do have that power. Investigators with the proper credentials have the authority to temporarily monopolize mystery dungeons for an investigation. The law was ratified about a decade ago, but it happens so rarely that we've never had to deal with it until now."

The researcher took notice of the handful of odd looks she was receiving, and shrugged her shoulders. "…What? I went to law school for a few years."

"So what are we gonna do then, huh?" Mincinno interjected. "Just sit around when our target is staging a meeting for us?"

Ampharos closed his eyes and shook his head. "I… do believe I need some time to let this sink in. Tomorrow we will revisit Project Chisel, but today there's little to be done about it."

He took his usual stance in front of the crowd and, despite the grim circumstances, held his chin high. "Comrades, I promise this isn't over! Get your rest and your nutrients, because you're going to need them sooner rather than later! I'll be in my office if anyone needs me. Mawile, meet me there in an hour to go over some things if you'd please."

With his final word punctuated by a salute, the chief made his way down the hall and out of sight.


	34. Intermission

Chapter 34 - Intermission

The sun had fallen well below the horizon by the time Leah and I finished explaining everything to Nuzleaf and Espurr. Only the flicker of the ceiling lantern was left to light the room by the time we wrapped our story up.

They both sat patiently on the pair of straw beds I'd fetched for them earlier in the day. Neither of them said a word the entire time, although more than once did one of them raise their eyebrows or cringe at some of the finer details. We only stopped once to eat dinner with the others, and wasted no time hopping right back into our beds and back into the story when our bellies were full.

Up to this point, I had spent more time living in Serene Village than with the Society. But it didn't feel like it. Not even close. The Pokemon of Serene Village had always lurked among my idle thoughts up to this point, but sitting in the presence of two of them was a stark reminder that those months past had been such a significant part of my life. Sometimes, I'd be kept awake by thoughts of home— _that_ home—and other times I'd forget it ever happened.

To my fortune, Leah had taken over the storytelling role towards the end of our tale, saving me from losing even more of my voice after hours of speaking. I had to give her credit; she put everything she had into telling the story, including but not limited to sound effects, paw-movements, and even dramatic pauses (although she overdid the latter so much that the pauses lost their effect).

"...When we finally climbed the ascending cave, the lake was waiting for us on top! And it absolutely took my breath away! Oh, there were lights and grass and… _lights_! We had to stop and…"

I tuned out my partner's lavish recounting of Fogbound Lake to look over the world map laying across my desk, which I had come to favor over its digital counterpart. Longitudinal lines were traced out to display the curvature of the globe that could not be perfectly recreated on a flat map without distortion. Moving my hand along one of the lines, I traced from the northern pole down to the edge of the Water Continent, and then further down to a location I had circled with a pencil earlier.

 _Showdown Mountain._

From what I'd heard from the chatter of others, the mountain wasn't exactly a hotspot for rescue missions. It wasn't rich in natural resources, and the land was supposedly rugged and unruly-too difficult to colonize. The one thing we had going for us if we were to scale Showdown Mountain was that the mountain itself was not particularly tall, but from the limited research I'd done concerning the terrain, we'd have ourselves a tall enough challenge regardless.

I picked up a pencil and lightly tapped the eraser against my temple, over and over. _Tap tap tap._

That was the thing, though: _if_ we were to even scale it. Without a doubt, that seemed like the next step to take. There would be no need for an investigation, we'd just show up and settle the matter in straightforward fashion. But we couldn't right now, not with this random government bullshit knocking down our door and ordering us around…

 _Tap tap tap._

…And, of course, there was an even bigger concern on the horizon. Even if traversing Showdown Mountain a clear next step, by no means was I eager to leap into some trap. The previous face-to-face confrontation had happened only days ago, and was still fresh in my mind. I was not injured now, but I could still remember the flames engulfing me, the taste of death, of weightlessness. That mysterious forest…

The last thing I wanted was a repeat.

"…And then we got back and found you two…" Leah took a final deep breath and exhaled. "…haaah… and now we're here."

Nuzleaf shook his head and whistled to himself. "Well, I'll be! Y'all weren't kiddin' when you said it's been a wild ride." He glanced at me as I spun back around in my chair. "…and I suppose you two have been able to handle it mighty-fine so far. Especially with them crazy scarves that let y'all duke it out with a legendary Pokemon and walk out unscathed."

He grunted to himself in amusement and drew his hand down to his own scarf, the same silver one he'd bought back when I was living with him. "Gah, I sure in tarnation wish my scarf could do more than just make me look all spiffy."

"We still aren't even sure how they work, to be honest," I admitted with a sigh. "It just sort of happened."

"…They're very interesting, to say the least," Espurr mused. She approached Leah and extended a paw towards her scarf. "May I?"

"Sure!"

Espurr took Leah's scarf into her paws, gently rubbing her paw across the patterns while examining its texture. A curious frown crossed her face. "I don't recall any school lessons covering items with properties like this, and… it feels like nothing I've ever touched before…" She glanced back up at Leah. "And you've always had these?"

Leah opened her mouth to speak only to let out a contagious yawn, leading her to confirm Espurr's inquiry with another nod.

Nuzleaf glanced out the window and took note of how late it was. "Ah… I reckon y'all are tuckered out. I'd be lyin' if I said I wasn't the same."

"It's alright," Leah giggled with a hint of pride. "It's all part of the job."

"Well, I reckon my legs ain't quite got the youth in 'em they once had. I sure do hope I can continue to make these trips across the range…" Nuzleaf said, giving his calves a tender rub.

My own exhaustion was briefly forgotten while I observed the older Pokémon tend to himself. Even though he wasn't visibly injured, the grass-type had clearly seen better days. The leaf on his head wasn't tilted like it had been earlier, but had still not yet returned to a healthy shade of green. A noisy yawn accentuated the bags under his closing eyes. "Anyway, I'm hittin' the hay. I reckon you kids should do the same sooner or later."

The side of his head gently touched the straw as Nuzleaf haphazardly pulled a blanket over him. Just like that, he was out cold. By the time I had shut off the ceiling lantern, his faint, rhythmic snores had begun to echo off the walls.

Only the waning moon outside provided what scarce light there was, which was not enough to see anything in the room except the outline of the window and the silhouettes of my friends. Without another word exchanged between the three of us, Leah, Espurr and I settled into our beds for the night.

* * *

Sunbeams pried open my eyelids and cast aside the veil of sleep, blurring the divide between the waking realm and the remnants of a murky dream. I opened my eyes further before shutting them tight and turning away from a harsh glow—the window. Distant urban noise filtered through, reminding me further

My head disagreed with the rising sun about how much sleep I deserved, so I made no effort to get up out of the bed I'd missed so dearly.

But just as I was drifting off again, a palm was placed on the top of my head. In silent defiance, I uncurled my tail and weakly turned away.

"—Heh. I reckon this place hasn't made you into a morning person quite yet," a distant voice chuckled.

I curled my tail back over my stomach. "…Mmph."

"Leah's gone and fetched herself some breakfast. She tried to wake you a few minutes ago, but you weren't movin' an inch. I'm gonna go get me some'a them good-smellin' pancakes your chef made." He shifted in place and began walking through to the hallway. "I reckon y'all should hustle down there, or else they might all be gone."

With the mention of breakfast, I opened one eye and squinted forward. The sun was already shining to the bottom of the wall and onto the floor. It extended across the floor to my backside, casting a small shadow in front of me—an unfamiliar sight. Breakfast must have come awfully late today. And even then, the bell should've been rung hours ago. Mawile was usually a hardass about keeping schedule, and that included waking up at the crack of dawn. Whatever break in routine allowed me to get extra rest, I wasn't complaining.

I rolled onto my back and stretched everything that could be stretched. Then, I rolled onto my side and pushed myself to a sitting position… and found myself staring straight into the eyes of Espurr.

I tried and failed to keep myself from jumping in place.

"Oh—uh, good morning," I mumbled. I was instantly self-conscious of the grogginess that lingered in my voice, and meekly cleared my throat.

"Good morning," Espurr paused to yawn. "Sorry if I surprised you." Judging from her slightly-unkempt fur and sitting position, I figured she'd just woken up as well. She stretched her arms and rubbed her eyes. "…Nuzleaf mentioned pancakes?"

I nodded, my voice a little clearer this time. "Y-yeah. Swirlix, the chef that cooked dinner last night, is pretty much the best baker in town." I gave her a tiny smile. "You're gonna love our east coast food. It's got a lot more flavor than the apples and berries we used to eat."

Her stare was colder than usual. "There's nothing wrong with apples and berries… But I suppose I'll take your word for it."

Not a hint of warmth was reflected on her face as she pushed herself up, walked over to the doorway, and pushed aside the curtain, all without another word. A few delicate footsteps could be heard down the hall before the rest were drowned out by the ambient noise of a distant, busy kitchen.

Alone now, I forced down a dejected sigh. "…No, I guess there isn't."

There was nothing to be done about it right now. After splashing some water onto my face and blinking out the residue in my eyes, I made my way into the hall.

Everyone in the Society was already present in the kitchen area, gathering ingredients from Swirlix's spread and building meals of all shapes and sizes. Nuzleaf hadn't been lying about the pancakes, which had invaded my nostrils the moment I stepped into the room.

 _So this is the treat we get after returning from overseas… Not bad. Not bad at all._

With a modest plate prepared in no time, I made my way towards Leah. She sat near the edge of the large table with Nuzleaf and Espurr sitting across from her, both of whom were too immersed with their meal to notice me right away. Leah was a nose-length too-far deep in her food to notice my entrance as well, but fortunately had the foresight to save me a seat.

After setting down my plate, I picked up the wand she'd used to save my seat and tapped her shoulder with it.

"Mmph—!" Noticing me for the first time, she swallowed what was in her mouth and shot me a wide smile. A trail of syrup dripped off of her chin, which she wiped away with a napkin. "Mornin' Smugleaf."

I pretended to gasp. "Did I just see you use a _napkin_?"

She raised her eyebrows and snorted. "Did _I_ just see you only grab one pancake to eat?" Even though I saw it coming, I was too slow to block her paw from gingerly punching my shoulder. "You need to put on some mass, you're too skinny."

I gave her a blank stare. "Leah, I'm pretty sure I'm better off like this—"

 _Ding! Ding! Ding!_

The sound of silverware banging against glass rang through the air.

"If I may interrupt!" Ampharos called from the far end of the table.

At the sound of his voice, the last of the noise faltered. Once satisfied he'd gotten everyone's attention, the chief nodded once at Mawile and then stood up from his chair.

"As much as I hate to intrude on this fine breakfast, there are a few important things to go over this morning." He paused for no evident reason and surveyed the room. "…First and foremost, I'm sure you've all noticed we have a pair of guests hailing from the fruitful Serene Village. I ask that everyone wish them a warm welcome!"

All eyes now fell on Nuzleaf and Espurr. Nuzleaf grinned nervously and raised a hand in greeting, while Espurr stared back at Ampharos with a blank look. A handful of greetings and 'hello's were unanimously expressed by the Society members.

The chief regarded Nuzleaf and Espurr while meekly rubbing the back of his head. "I apologize you had to get caught up in whatever it is we're dealing with, especially so early in your visit. You have my word things aren't usually this hectic in Lively Town."

Nuzleaf took the opportunity to speak up. "Oh, I reckon it's no big deal. Y'all have treated us with more hospitality than we could ask for, so I reckon we're mighty grateful for that." He cast a quick glance in my direction. "Sage and Leah have already filled us in on the nitty-gritty details, so I reckon we don't require too much explainin'."

"Ah!" Ampharos smiled and gratefully nodded my way. "That simplifies things. In that case I'll get right into it."

He picked his gadget up off the table and pressed a few buttons, uncharacteristically cursing under his breath when it failed to immediately catch a decent signal. When he was finally able to pull up the tab he'd been searching for, he turned it in his hands to face the rest of us.

Sitting near the other end of the table, I had to squint to decipher any details. I was able to recognize what it was right away: the Water Continent, zoomed in on Showdown Mountain. A transparent red tint, something I'd never seen before on the digital map, overlaid the area.

"This—" Ampharos held the gadget in his right paw and pointed to it with his left. It was an area of the map I'd glanced over many times, but that now had a strange red border encompassing the area he was pointing at. "—is Showdown Mountain. I... regret to inform you all that this red manifold dictates an area we are legally prohibited from entering."

Low grumbles filled the room.

"So those uptight jerks weren't bluffing after all…" Buizel said.

Vulpix raised her paw to speak, which immediately earned her a nod from the chief. "Does it say when it'll be lifted?"

"...Uhmm…" Clicking his tongue, Ampharos turned the gadget back around so he could tinker with it some more. "…I can't seem to find—ah, here it is. When I pull this up, it illustrates that the projected length of the aforementioned embargo is… five days."

Mawile chuckled sourly. "Don't hold your breath, that's just an arbitrary projection. They typically last a lot longer."

I narrowed my eyes. In hindsight, it would've been great if the Serene Village school had included more about the laws of the land into their teachings. Barely knowing a government existed didn't help much when they all of the sudden were showing up at our doorstep, dictating where we were allowed to travel, telling us to stay out of an operation we'd committed to, intimidating us with their supposed power.

By the way they acted, I clearly _should've_ known they existed. I made a mental note to ask Mawile about them later.

After a delayed sigh, Ampharos begrudgingly nodded. "Yes, I'm aware it could mean anything. Which is why for now, I recommend that you all make use of your time in a different manner."

He inspected the faces of everyone. The exhaustion that he wore on his own spoke for him.

"As much as I am eager to pursue our enemy and learn more about their ways, it is clear that our health is more important. I recommend you all to take the day off and rest your minds and your muscles. Get some extra sleep if you need it, go take care of anything you've been meaning to… spend the day however you please so long as it doesn't involve Showdown Mountain. You've all earned a break."

Unanimous cheering erupted amongst the Society members. Leah did a fist-pump to show her approval. I sank a little further into my seat and allowed the words the process. A break. When was the last time I'd had a break?

"So, uh, hate to interrupt, but can we start eating again?" Bunnelby cut in. "My pancakes are getting soggy."

"Oh." Ampharos glanced down at his own pancakes. "Well I—"

"Dig in!"

The cry of Swirlix cut through the tension of the room, then followed up by ravenous sounds of chewing, swallowing and slurping. Everyone else, myself included, followed in her image to a lesser degree, but still without holding back. Before long, the mess hall had resumed its chaotic chatter.

By the time the last meal was finished and last burp was burped, it was nearly noon. I was full, my face was sticky, and I was ready to take advantage of this rare opportunity for a midday nap. I knew I needed better sleep, I knew I could sleep for a _month_ if given the chance.

After putting away my dishes, I lazily walked back to my room. Nuzleaf, always a quick eater, had beaten me there. He was sprawled across his makeshift bed, unconscious. Leah and Espurr were nowhere to be seen, but I assumed they were together somewhere, if not already making their way back to their beds as I had.

Satisfied with that, all there was left to do was flop back into bed.

* * *

Something jolted me awake.

I instantly shot up to caress my tail, which had begun to tingle uncomfortably where I'd been hit. Following a brief but sharp spike of pain, which I quickly recognized as electricity, I glared at my attacker. Helioptile stood beside my bed alongside Mincinno.

"You awake, homie?" Helioptile snickered. "Sorry I had to give you a lil' taze, but you were out like a light."

"We thought we'd invite you to come into town with us rather than sleep in the rest of the day," Mincinno said. "As much as I could go for a righteous nap right now, 'm afraid we've got a different idea on how to spend the afternoon."

I shook my head sharply to wake myself up. Most of the context surrounding my nap took a moment to return to me, and my response ended up being delayed. "…Uh—yeah. Sure, I'll come." I glanced to my left and noticed Nuzleaf was missing. "How long was I out for?"

"Ehh… 'bout four hours," Mincinno estimated, offering me his paw. "Still plenty of time to run some errands and prepare for Showdown Mountain."

I grabbed his paw and he pulled me up.

"Thanks." After a quick stretch, I walked over to the water basin. For a moment, I hesitated; my reflection stared back at me, moving as I spoke. "…You're certain we'll be going there at all?"

The question hung in the air. I could feel Mincinno staring at the back of my head as I splashed my face with water. But when I turned to look back at him, his eyebrows were raised.

"Going today is out of the question," Mincinno said flatly. "But you tell me, human. Is there _really_ any doubt we'll be going at some point?"

I regarded him in silence.

"Well, there shouldn't be." The normal-type shook his head. "And even if there is, we'd be damned if caught unprepared for such a dangerous trip a second time in a row. Which is why we _will_ be prepared. Come on human, I gotta show you somethin'."

He turned around and parted the door curtains with a beckoning wave. Helioptile followed suit.

I called after them. "Show me what?"

Helioptile poked his head back into the room and gave me a toothy grin. "You'll see!"

After a half-minute of lazily tossing items into my bag, I was after them. Even on a day off, the compound was lifeless as I jogged through the hall and into the main room. Everyone had either gotten the same idea and taken a nap, or had decided they were better off spending their time elsewhere.

Just as I began to question why anyone would choose the brutal outdoor heat over the cooler indoor air, I exited the building and was given an pleasant answer. The skies were blanketed with a ceiling of clouds, stretching from the western mountains all the way out past the shoreline to the east.

"Hurry up, cuz! It's probably gonna start pouring soon!" Helioptile called from down the cobblestone path. "We're headed to the marketplace!"

I stared at the sky for a moment longer. There was no rain yet, not even a sprinkle, and yet it was already starting to cool off. The barrier of clouds, aided by a uniform wind blowing from the coast, was all it took to lower the temperature to a tolerable range. The humidity had unfortunately gone nowhere; sweating profusely was still an inevitability when running outside. But in light of the recent weather, the idea of getting rained on seem almost like a pleasant one.

Approaching the center of town, I breathed a sigh of relief when it came into view. The police tape; the barriers, the victims—all gone. The only lingering indicators that anything had happened were the handful of shops that had stayed closed for another day. The square had, for the most part, regained its typical luster.

Mincinno and Helioptile had stopped by a familiar shop, the Kecleon market, where Vulpix had been waiting for them.

As I approached, the vixen waved me over. "Sage, over here!"

The devilish grin on Mincinno's and Helioptile's faces were impossible to miss as I walked up. Mincinno was holding a stack of thick envelopes.

Forcing down a yawn reminiscent of my nap, I gestured at them. "What are those?"

Instead of immediately answering, Mincinno waved at us to follow him while he began walking towards a nearby bench. He spread the envelopes—three of them total—across the seat and stood back.

"These are technical machines," he said. His chest puffed out a little to match the diabolical look on his face. "Your favorite normal-type spared no expenses for you three. Got 'em polished and everything."

To demonstrate, he tore one of the envelopes and pulled out the contents. Besides a few slight differences in color, the item looked no different than the one I'd seen a while back in Serene Village.

"This TM, for example, teaches a move called thunderbolt," Mincinno explained. "It—"

"Ooh! Mine! That one's mine!" Helioptile snatched the object out of his teammate's hand. Before anyone could object, he cocked his arm back and smashed it over his forehead, shattering the brittle material into dozens of useless shards. My mouth flew open in protest of such a stupid act, but I stopped myself short when a strange, pink dust began cascading down and covering his body.

Mincinno placed his hands behind his head and scolded his teammate. "Augh, you bloody idiot! You shouldn't have used it out here! You're lucky it hasn't started raining yet!"

I stared at them cluelessly, which caught Vulpix's attention. "Never seen a TM used before?" she giggled.

"Well I… guess I have now," I said, chuckling at the way Helioptile was bouncing around with excitement. "You're supposed to just, uh, break it?"

"Mm-hm!" Vulpix nodded, equally as amused by the sight of her teammate. "That gaseous material inside is what will 'teach' you a move. Although, if it's windy or raining and you do it outdoors, you might not absorb enough of it for the process to work." She briefly glanced at the sky, noticing that the clouds hadn't gotten any thinner. "...Which is why we should probably head inside."

"Come on then," Mincinno said, butting into our conversation. "We'll head to the dojo by south beach."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "What happened to taking a break?"

Mincinno snorted. "Come on human, you have a malevolent force of nature on your ass and you still managed to steal yourself a grade-A nap this afternoon." He pat me on the shoulder a little too hard for my tastes. "Break time is up, you need to be as prepared as you can be!"

Helioptile was already sprinting towards the south side of town. "This is so _cool!_ I have to go zap stuff someplace I won't get arrested!"

"Hey, wait for—!" Vulpix called after him, but trailed off. Helioptile had already sprinted down the road and was out of sight. "Ah… oh well."

I shrugged. "We'll just meet him there. How far is it?"

"It's on the docks. Just a few blocks from here." Mincinno scooped up the other three envelopes and led the way forward, first across the marketplace and then down a wide street, which then turned into a darker, narrow street.

At first I occupied myself by sightseeing, not that there was much to see other than building entrances and covered windows. One curiosity that stood out to me was the compactness of the buildings along the narrow back streets compared to those circled around the center of town. Back there, all of the shops had their own unique design schemes that collectively breathed life to the marketplace; deeper into town, the buildings became one single unit, unoriginal and uninteresting, two mostly-flat walls on either side of the linear cobble road.

With nowhere else to look, my gaze finally settled on the rest of the merchandise in Mincinno's arms. A light sprinkle began to fall—nothing worth much concern, but still enough for Mincinno to conceal the precious items in his bag.

"Hey," I spoke up, casting a glance at the bag on his shoulder. "What else did you buy?"

"Hmph." Shaking his head once, he glanced back down at his bag. For a moment, only our footsteps and the pit-pat of rain could be heard. "I swear I tried to get a leaf storm TM for ya, but they had none in stock. Damn shame too. It was gonna be a big surprise and everything. Could'a at least been a birthday present in advance."

 _Birthday… d-do I even have a birthday...?_

"With your ability, it would be a really useful move to have on our side, you know?" Vulpix added.

There was mild disappointment that the news carried. I had already spent more time than necessary fantasizing about such a technique ever since I'd learned of my special ability. Even though I was fairly sure that, in reality, it would be more pragmatic than just boosting up my special attack to an infinite amount, Vulpix was still perfectly accurate in calling it useful, if not understating it.

In spite of this disappointment, I grinned and jested at them, "Trying to turn me into a weapon, huh?"

Mincinno's "yeah, pretty much" and Vulpix's "of course not" were spoken simultaneously. An awkward pause ensued, and the former earned himself an unamused glare from his ice-type teammate.

"What?" Mincinno shrugged at her nonchalantly. "We're fighting all sorts of enemies, 'specially now that the lawbirds from the north are on our asses. The TMs are just one step towards being well-equipped to face the noise."

"Do you think it'll come to that?" Vulpix called with a raised voice. In a matter of minutes, sprinkle had become rain, breeze had become wind, and we were forced to speak up to hear each other clearly. Thickening clouds darkened everything further.

"I'm seriously gonna need some context with those guys," I interrupted. Mawile wasn't here, and even though Mincinno's banter suggested his opinion of them might not be totally unbiased, I'd take what I could get.

"You mean those uppity badge-wearin' devils from yesterday?" Mincinno answered, slowing to a jog alongside Vulpix and I. "What of 'em?"

Without hesitation, I shot question after question at him.

"Who do they work for? Where are they from? Why do they care about us? What's the…" I searched for the right words. "...you know, what's the _law_ like around here?"

Mincinno almost stopped jogging, but continued out of necessity and of the rain beating on his back. "Not to be rude, human, but didn't they teach you that in school?"

If he'd asked this of Leah, she'd have probably answered 'maybe they had at some point'. On the contrary, I often paid close attention in class given how little I knew about the world I was in. Definitely close enough to notice if some _all-encompassing government_ had been mentioned in the lessons.

I shook my head, slinging some rain off my nose to be immediately replaced with more. "No, no mention of it."

"...Mmmaybe it's because you're from inland, perhaps?" Vulpix tilted her head. "I mean, the Water Continent is supposed to be the world's primary center of trade… Maybe you were just off their radar and no mention was necessary? You wouldn't be the first."

I considered it, letting the idea sink in deep unlike the falling rain that glided off my scales. The logic sounded plausible, sure. The image of Lombre's scorn was still fresh in my mind: it only took a single mention of anything involving urban life, and presumably urban governing, to set him off.

"Mawile is probably the one you'll want to ask about the law 'round here," Mincinno said. "That is, if you're willing to risk her getting all political on your ass. Her lectures about the current state of the continent can get really…"

Even in the cascading rain, I could see them both visibly shiver.

I decided not to press further, and conversation died from there. I almost lost my footing a few times on the slippery cobblestone, and praised the heavens when the ground underneath transitioned to wooden planks. The narrow street widened out, generic buildings became open air, mailboxes and streetlamps were now empty merchant stalls and soaked benches. Besides the different variety of stalls and formations of wooden crates, the town's southern boardwalk appeared no different from the eastern boardwalk by the Society headquarters.

I tried to run forward into one of the stalls covered by a thick tarp, but Mincinno's tail gripped my arm and steered me sharply to the right.

"Dojo's this way, human!"

Mincinno was moving along the buildings lining the boardwalk, wasting no time. With my attempt at temporarily sheltering from the rain abolished, I corrected my path and ran to catch up with him. Vulpix had correctly made the turn and playfully stuck her tongue out at me when she looked back to check if I was catching up.

As the rain quickened its pace more and more, so did the rate at which we ran through it. A few townsfolk were out and about on this side of town, but not enough of a crowd to impee our dash. Those who were biologically capable of holding umbrellas often were, and none seemed eager to be out in the pouring rain. Distant thunder echoed across the clouds, but it did not sound close.

Most of the buildings on the boardwalk were little different from each other stylistically. With a greater view of the town's south side, the lack of architectural variety lacked in comparison to the pallet of colors and shapes used in the northern areas where I usually spent my time. They were relatively tall—several stories, at least—but there was little else to note. Almost all of them either seemed unoccupied or closed for the day.

This is why I nearly ran right into Mincinno when he stopped suddenly and led us into a building that, quite frankly, looked no different from the two on either side of it besides a bit of extra height.

Saying nothing, Mincinno slapped open the doors to the dojo with his waterlogged tail and ran inside, Vulpix and I on his heels. I entered into a vacant lobby no larger than my bedroom. The sound of falling rain and gusting wind became ambient noise beating against the outside wall as I hunched over to breathe.

"Aughh, finally! Fuck the sky!" Mincinno bellowed, wasting no time wringing out his tail.

I had lost track of time dashing through the rain, but knew it couldn't have been longer than ten minutes. Still, that was enough to leave me out of breath and soaked through and through.

As he began fluffing his ears, Mincinno noticed me and grinned. "—C'mon human. We didn't run _that_ much. We haven't even started yet!"

Vulpix scoffed at her teammate. "We aren't here for a full workout, silly. We shouldn't push ourselves too much if we're gonna be going on a big mission soon."

I knew she was probably right, but I brushed her concerns off. "Hey, I'm fine. I'm not out of shape or anything."

Mincinno laughed us off and patted my shoulder with his now-dry tail. "It's all right mate, you can admit you're a little winded. You've still gotta get used to that new body of yours, eh?"

"M-my—what?" My eyes narrowed. "I-I've been in this body for months, I'm _plenty_ used to it!"

"We'll see about that." Mincinno grinned even wider, giving me a look that would dare suggest I were his prey. He flicked his head back towards a door across from the entrance labeled 'athletics'. "We'll find out if you can hold your own without your magic handkerchief powers."

 _Is he trying to fire me up…?_

If he was, it was working.

I corrected my posture and stood tall. That way, I was able to look down on him.

"I guess we will."

Vulpix rolled her eyes and sighed wistfully. "...Or you two can just ignore my wisdom. That works too."

Mincinno didn't hear her. He had already flung the door open and made his way inside, revealing to me a much, _much_ larger area. The only things impeding the broad space—too large to really call a room—were the empty bleachers on all four sides. Dozens of Pokémon were scattered across the space, attacking stationary dummies and giving lessons and sparring. I stepped forward and felt a soft substance beneath my feet. The floor was clay, I assumed, or maybe rubber.

Mincinno was a dozen paces ahead of us, and counting. With a spring in his step not unlike what his electric-type teammate had displayed earlier, he jogged towards one of the numerous rectangles painted white on the amber-colored floor.

"…He's such a gym rat." Vulpix shook her head as the pair of us approached him. "He _loves_ coming here. We used to spend our afternoons sparring and watching other Pokemon before we got caught up in this mess. He and Heliptile love to go at it… even though Helioptile always loses." She held a paw to her mouth and giggled.

"Hey-y-y, I swear I've won once or twice," a familiar voice chimed in. Helioptile skipped up to us just as we reached Mincinno's side and gave everyone a toothy smile. "But enough about that, homies. I'm gonna go try out this new move!"

With that he was gone for good, off to challenge one of the other Pokemon in the gym.

"I'll have y'all know he has _not_ beaten me," Mincinno boasted once Helioptile was out of earshot. He then slapped an ovular-shaped capsule in my hands and pointed at it. "This one's yours. Pop it open and let the dust settle over you, and you should gain access to a new move."

I stared at the expensive-looking object in my hands. "Okay, thanks… what move?"

"Go ahead and see for yourself," Mincinno said as he produced the final TM he'd bought. He snapped it in half while holding it over Vulpix's head, causing pink dust to trail out and cover her all over. She held in a sneeze when some of it trickled onto her nose.

"There," Mincinno said matter-of-factly. "Now that you know freeze dry, you don't need me to save you from pesky water-types."

The normal-type wore an innocent grin that spanned from cheek to cheek. Not for the first time today, Vulpix gave him an uninspired look. "Thanks, asshole."

Given that I'd never done this before, I supposed it wouldn't be a bad idea to just mimic them. Holding the TM over my head, I snapped it in two and allowed the dust to settle over me. Almost as soon as the particles made contact, my scales began to tingle, almost as if the circulation had been cut off. An unexpected ache manifested in my limbs and tail, uncomfortable enough to draw a sharp breath of protest out of me.

Then, the sensation faded away just as quickly as it had arrived, and suddenly, I felt no different than before.

"So, uh… what now?" I began, double-checking to see if the effect had disappeared by now. When I got funny looks in response, I gestured to the residual dust slowly fading away. "This mysterious new attack you won't tell me about… How do I use it?"

"I'm 'fraid nobody can answer that but yourself." Mincinno started, before pausing and rubbing his chin. Mincinno paced over to the opposite end of the battling arena we were standing in. As he walked, he waved at Vulpix to step out of the rectangle. "Sorry Vulpix, but Sage here's gonna be my appetizer this afternoon. You'll be my leftovers if you're up for it."

At this point, Vulpix was beyond rolling her eyes at him. She just exhaled and moved out of our way, muttering under her breath, "Why are you like this…?"

After stretching his limbs and jumping in place a few times, Mincinno slapped the ground in front of him and lashed his tail. "Try and hit me with your attack! Let's see what you got, human!"

I stared dumbly at him. "...Wh—how can I do that if I don't know what attack I learned?"

There truly was nothing about me that felt different than before. I stretched my arms, my legs, my tail. I looked myself over once, twice, three times. Nothing felt stronger. Nothing looked or felt different _at all_. Where did I even start?

Mincinno got out of his defensive stance and rubbed his chin. "Just… I dunno," he began before pausing again. "Just think about what gives you energy. Is there anything you know of that gives you lots of energy?"

Despite how silly this exercise was becoming, I paused to consider his question.

 _What gives me… energy?_

"Uh well…" I shrugged. "Naturally, food gives me energy. And… sleep?"

Mincinno shook his head. "Lame. What about a person? Someone you know?"

"I mean…" I rubbed the back of my head. The answer he wanted from me was pretty obvious. "Leah?"

"D'aww, that's so wholesome!" Vulpix chimed from the sidelines.

Mincinno nodded his approval. "Okay, mate. Now think about Leah and focus on creating a ball of that positive energy." He punched the air. "Then _lob_ that shit in my direction!"

 _I should think about Leah and then 'lob that shit in his direction'... Ookay…_

This was easier said than done. I knew it had to be a ranged attack based on Mincinno's superfluous description, so I flexed my tail as though I were trying to use the only other ranged move I knew: leaf tornado.

To my surprise, something else actually appeared at the end of my tail—briefly, a handful of sparks formed! …Only to fizzle out just as quickly as they'd appeared.

" _C'mon_ human!" Mincinno failed to contain a laugh at the lackluster results. "You can do better than that!"

I tuned out his banter by repeating the process. Again the results were unimpressive, albeit a bit more successful than the first attempt. And then again, and again, with no shortage of banter from Mincinno along the way.

My tail had begun to really ache by the twentieth try, and the rest of my body by the fortieth. By the time my attempts climbed above fifty, and with only marginally small improvements to show for it, I was about ready to call it quits.

Mincinno wasn't having any of it though.

"Hey, you aren't about to just give up!" He raised his voice up a notch, earning him some sideways looks from some of the other Pokemon working out in the gym. I'd barely made it over to my water canteen before he was practically in my ear. "You can't just try it a few times and then move on! You actually managed to focus that energy into a spherical shape and it's barely been an hour!"

"It's _exhausting_ ," I retorted between heavy swigs of water.

"Then _right now_ —" Mincinno got unnecessarily close. "—is the time to push yourself. Y'ain't gonna get better until you exit your comfort zone."

"I-Isn't today supposed to be our day of rest? To prepare for…" I looked around warily. Our inevitable visit Showdown Mountain was confidential, no doubt, and had nearly escaped my train of thought. I had to be careful not to explicitly mention it in public. "…you know, our upcoming mission?"

"Like I said, you got a nap earlier, you're just fine!" Mincinno waved me off and walked back to his side of the rectangle. "Besides, that's exactly what we're doing right now: _preparing_. And if you can't hit my white furry ass with an energy ball from ten feet away, you ain't prepared."

Fueled by his words, I discarded the canteen and charged another energy ball on my tail. He made no attempt to move; perfect for me.

I was so initially focused onto Mincinno that I didn't even realize the energy ball grow to what I assumed was its full size. My tail almost immediately dropped to the floor as the ball of energy brought with it a hefty weight, one I was not expecting at all. I just barely got a good glance at what I'd produced before it exploded in my face.

"There you go!" Vulpix cheered from the sidelines.

Mincinno regarded me for a moment. "See, if you focus too much on your tail when you try to attack like that, you'll overthink it. You don't have the fundamentals of energy ball down yet; those will come gradually as you knock some heads with it."

He began to pace around me. "Instead, focus on me just like you did a second ago. Focus on your target and just do what you've been practicing for the past half-hour or so. That's what I did to master shock wave."

I frowned. "Isn't shock wave's accuracy supposed to be—"

" _Tsk tsk,_ " he interrupted. "Don't bore me with the details of my own technique. Instead, show me what you can do with yours."

Every nerve in my tail had been nearly exhausted, but the excitement of finally executing the attack was more than enough to drive me forward. All I had to do was get the stupid thing airborne!

The action almost felt like muscle memory by now, and in a mere second there was a heavy ball of energy resting upon my tail once more—the heaviness I'd anticipated this time. I lifted and curled back my tail to throw.

A smirking Mincinno beckoned me forward. He wasn't going to dodge.

I almost smirked right back at him. _I'm gonna wipe that look clean off your face._

Pushing off with my left foot, I swung my tail around to the right and let the ball of energy loose. It instantly released from my grip and zipped through the air in exactly the way I intended, hurtling straight towards…

…the back wall.

I hadn't come within five feet of hitting him.

"Wow, you fuckin' suck!" Minconno doubled down to the ground in laughter.

I gave Vulpix a disconcerted look, who returned it with a look of sympathy.

I thought for a moment. As bad as that shot was, part of me still stood in awe of the speed and range that the energy ball had displayed. If I could just learn to aim it...

"Sorry, chief." Mincinno walked over and pat my shoulder. He rubbed the back of his head and, without much success, tried to free his voice of any amusement. "I don't have any fancy tricks to fix that god-awful aim. You'll just have to practice."

He walked over to his bag and began to drink from his canteen. Between sips he nonchalantly waved me off and said, "Take five."

No complaints there. I wasted no time making my way over to a nearby bench where I sat down, curled my tail over my lap and started messaging the areas of my body most tender.

The weight of the bench shifted, prompting me to glance up and notice Vulpix's sleek form settled down next to me. In her outstretched paw was an oran berry.

"Thank you." I tried to match her smile, but was too out of breath.

"Of course. You're doing really well."

"Am I though?" I raised an eyebrow and sighed. "I've never had this much trouble trying to use a move."

"Some attacks just aren't easy to master right away for some Pokemon," Vulpix reasoned. "Mincinno's exactly right about repetition, even though he may be…" she narrowed her eyes in his direction as he continued to marvel at how badly I'd missed him. "…a bit of an idiot sometimes."

"Look, I know I can fight well enough to explore some dungeons and save some Pokemon. But that's not… I mean, what I'm dealing with now is so much bigger than that. If I didn't have my scarf, I'd be dead."

"Sage," Vulpix started in a comforting tone. "Nobody expected you or Leah to stand a chance against a legendary Pokemon on your own, let alone one possessed by…" she paused for a moment, likely recollecting the vivid memories of a few days ago. "…whatever that thing was."

She turned back to look at me. "But that's why you have us, and the rest of the Society. That's why we're here in the first place, preparing. You don't have to do this al—"

"Alright, back to work!" Mincinno bellowed out of nowhere.

My eyes widened. "Hey, that wasn't five minutes!"

He just shrugged. "So?"

* * *

"I'm gonna tail slap you into a new pair of boots, snake!"

No sooner than Vulpix had motioned for us to start again had Mincinno already leapt toward me. Not the slow size-up move I'd been expecting, I planted with my left and spun to the right, narrowly escaping his tail slicing down. Already in close-quarters, I turned my tail's momentum into an attack. Whirled back around, planted, _tried_ to strike the place he was at...

Mid-spin, something spun from the opposite direction, slammed into my cheek and sent me tumbling to the floor.

I wasn't sure which direction was which in the split second that followed, but I blindly lashed out with a vine anyway. My heart soared for a brief moment when I felt it make contact with something, but fell back down to earth when the tendril did not whip as intended.

Mincinno stared down at me, my vine gripped firmly in his paw. The fight was already over.

"That ain't it, chief," Mincinno said. I felt him release the vine, which I immediately retracted back into my shoulder. With a grunt, I glared up at him.

He looked bored.

I blinked. _What just happened…?_

He offered me a paw up, which I begrudgingly took. Then he took a step back and acted out what happened.

"Alright, here's the skinny… I know you like that spin move. I see you using it every chance you get. Problem is, you end up turning your back to your opponent mid-spin, who just has to place a well-timed swing to your noggin to knock you out. Against ferals you can get away with that crap 'cause they're dumber than rocks. Against a capable opponent… I wouldn't count on it."

I briefly glanced over at the others. Vulpix was busy wringing out the clump of hair on her head; thankfully she didn't seem too engrossed in our sparring, but was still paying attention enough to notice I'd gotten knocked down. Helioptile, on the other hand, had come back to watch us and was currently waving a towel, chanting 'no mercy!'

My cheeks flared. Being knocked on my face in front of my friends was _not_ how I'd hoped this would go.

Something tapped the tip of my nose, hard. "Oi, you there?" Before I could react, Mincinno tapped my nose again, hard. He managed to do it a third time just as I moved out of reach.

I slapped away his intrusive paw. "H-hey—cut that out!"

He stopped and considered me for a long moment. "...Actually, I think that's the problem right there, human. You keep... _dodging_ without ever _striking back_. You've groomed yourself to fight against ferals, who can't strategize worth a damn."

He began to pace around me. "Like, okay. Dodging their attacks is usually no trouble… but I'd hope you've realized by this point that I'm not some willy-nilly feral, and that I will most certainly whoop that green ass back to Serenade Village if you don't actually counter-attack at some point during this timeline."

He bopped my nose _again_ with his paw, which officially sent me over the edge. The humiliation of being schooled was bad enough, but this was too much! He raised his paw to do it yet again, but I blocked it with a vine and forced it to the side. He raised his other paw, but I quickly snatched it with my other vine and yanked back. The normal-type lost his balance and fell face-first on the ground where I'd just gotten up from.

"It's called _Serene_ Village," I hissed.

I quickly took a step back, half-expecting Mincinno to take that as an invitation to return fire.

Instead, he pushed himself up and clapped. With a nod of approval, he rubbed some dust off his face and stood up as though he'd never been knocked down. Nothing about him indicated he was embarrassed in the slightest.

"That's what I'm talking about, human! Maybe you ain't spineless after all… figuratively speaking." He popped his neck and grinned. "Now let's see you do it in battle."

He backpedaled away from me and, once a comfortable distance away, slapped the ground in front of him with both paws.

The lecture he'd just given me was fresh in my mind, and I knew he was too proud not to demonstrate what he had to teach. He would likely go for a counter-attack, and probably land it if I read him wrong.

Still, whether he was baiting me or not, I was too frustrated not to attack first this time.

I leapt forward. Expecting the block and counter-attack, I unsheathed a vine and swept low at his feet as I drew within range.

The vine cut into air as he just barely leapt above the slash, and my forward momentum compromised my balance for a split second. That was all he needed to stomp down on the vine and slam his tail into my midsection. I grunted and tried to pull away, but all of his weight on my vine made it impossible.

Another disorienting strike to the stomach knocked all the breath out of me, and yet another to my cheek nearly sent me to the ground. Out of panic for being struck a fourth time, I lashed out with my other vine. Again I struck nothing, but the weight on my vine disappeared as he was forced to dodge my flailing.

With a single gasp for air, I jumped forward and slammed into him before he could reorient himself, sending us both to the ground in a violent heap. He clawed and elbowed to release himself, all while I fought back to restrain him entirely. Several times he jabbed his elbow into my abdomen, each strike increasing in virtue as I tried to hold on.

In a last-resort effort, I stretched my vines all the way up to his neck and wrapped them around. He struggled even harder, but I slid my body under him where he couldn't quite reach me with his elbow.

I tensed both vines and pulled.

The ferocity of his struggling intensified the instant his breathing was cut off. He grunted in a tone of genuine panic, something I'd never heard from him before. He only lasted a few seconds before tapping my shoulder repeatedly—his forfeit.

"Ngh—fuckin' hell," Mincinno choked once I let go.

We both got up and rested for a long moment. He had his hands on his legs, breathing hard. Satisfaction filled up my chest with every heavy breath of my own.

"Not… bad, human. I'm real impressed," He punched my shoulder in a fashion not unlike how Leah often did. I shoved myself back up to face him, but he made no effort to assume a fighting stance. Instead, he crossed his arms and wore a small grin.

"What?" I asked him with crossed arms. "Why so impressed?"

"Don't get me wrong, your fundamentals still ain't anything perfect. _That_ sure as hell ain't what I was impressed by."

His tone had grown serious, and he gave me the most genuine look he'd ever given me. "What caught my eye was how you responded. I've been deliberately testing your patience since we got here, and even when I really started to get to you, you still maintained your composure. When I berated you, I could tell you didn't like it… but nonetheless, you took it in stride and eventually ended up turning the tables. I knocked you on your ass and you got up and knocked me onto mine."

He began to massage his neck. "…Look, I think it goes without saying that you're going to be tested time and time again. And, well… I sure don't know why you're here in this world or being put through all this. But hey—maybe we might have a chance of surviving after all."

My tongue rested on the front of my teeth. I tried opening my mouth, but had nothing to say.

Thankfully, Helioptile didn't give me much of a chance to speak anyway. He bounded over and pat me on the back of the head with one of his floppy ears, sending a surge of electricity across my body and making me jump. "We're with you all the way, homie!"

Vulpix walked over to Mincinno and, after giving him the briefest of unaccommodating looks, turned and smiled cheek-to-cheek. "No matter what happens, Sage, you're one of us. You and Leah both. We'll always have your back—"

" _Alright_ , y'all, enough," Mincinno groaned. "Let's not get too sappy in this sweathouse. I think it's 'bout time to head back." He pulled out his gadget to check the time. "Meh, it's not that late… we can make it back in time for a late dinner—eh? What's this?"

He tapped the screen a few times and turned up the volume. Helioptile, Vulpix and I crowded around him. "Chief left us a voicemail like half an hour ago. We must've not heard it ring while we were working out."

He tapped the screen, and the garbled mess that was Ampharos's voicemail began to play.

" _Hello … are you all doing this afternoon? … report back to the headquarters … very important …"_

"Where was he when he recorded this shit?" Mincinno grumbled. "Is he standin' in the middle of a hurricane?"

"Shhh!" Vulpix hissed.

" … _still working out the details, I'm afraid … but one thing … made clear. The agents … been turned to stone."_

As broken as the recording was, the intended message was crystal clear, and as predictable as this outcome was, it still drew the breath out of my lungs and sent a cold shiver from the bottom of my toes to the tip of my nose.

" … _this has been your Chief … signing off. Stay safe everyone."_

Mincinno shut off the gadget and shoved it into his bag. The ambient sounds of the gym echoed as the four of us stood there, unwilling to move. Nobody said a word.

 _Dammit, I tried to warn them! I tried!_

I mentally facepalmed. Coming to the gym, learning a new attack, spending an off day with my friends… all of it had distracted me from the ongoing dilemma plaguing Lively Town. But now this news… and so soon too!

Things around here were beginning to fall apart.

"…Well, what should we do now?" Vulpix tentatively interrupted the ambience, breaking the silence among the four of us.

"We walk home and get plenty of sleep," Mincinno answered. His voice left no indication of fear, or surprise, or remote disturbance.

We all stared at him. It took him a second to notice, but when he did, he raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "…What? Did this actually surprise anyone? We…" he sighed. "…We _knew_ this would happen."

"Maybe, but…" Vulpix trailed off.

"It's just really morbid, you feel me?" Helioptile bluntly finished for her.

Mincinno has gathered our things together and began walking towards the front of the facility, waving at us to follow. "You ain't wrong. But let's not pretend they didn't have it coming to 'em. Besides, that message didn't have a lot of details, so we'd best head back so we can get the whole scoop. What I'm more worried about is where the chief was when he recorded that shitty voicemail—"

He flung open the front doors, and he had his answer. The pouring rain from before had been an inconsequential drizzle compared to the monsoon that assaulted us before we even got a chance to fully step outside. The wind had picked up to an unprecedented strength, and under the street lamps I could see the rain falling near-horizontally from its influence.

We began to walk back through the elements (the gust was unfortunately working against us), with any drying off or grooming we'd done since entering the gym being violently erased.

Beneath the deafening gale, I just barely picked up the sound of Mincinno cursing savagely at nature.

* * *

A/N:

I'm alive.

...Well, I've said that once before, but it's even more applicable now than it was back then.

A lot has changed since I last uploaded. I'm a university student now, and academics and my SO are starting to occupy most of my time. But I'm not going to stop writing this book, and I certainly don't hope to ever take this long to release a chapter again.

Anyway, this chapter was meant to fulfill what I felt was the need for an "intermission" period of sorts, to slow down the plot a bit and give Sage an opportunity to be mentored and taught a new technique. The chapter was initially intended to be released quickly given the relative lack of plot progression (and a certain psychic-type cat) present, but... things didn't happen that way, unfortunately. I had actually experimented a bit with having Espurr come along to train, but it just didn't make any narrative sense and I ended up scrapping the idea.

I thought I'd mention that for some reason, FFN deleted my italics when I posted last chapter. I fixed the issue the next day, but by then a couple hundred people had already read it. Here's to hoping that doesn't happen again.

One more thing: I'm going to appropriately plug my one-shot here, since it's a crack spinoff of this story. Go read Cotangent if you haven't already. You can find it on my profile.

Finally, my gratitude goes out to Will_1231 for beta reading this chapter, and also to all those who are still here after seven months of radio silence on my end. I appreciate you.


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